Internet is powerful! In England, fans of "Rage Against the Machine" made sure that their band reached number 1 in the Christmas charts. In Germany, a few tweets led to a dubious job advertisement being changed...

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Example 1: Rage against the Machine ranked 1 on the British Christmas charts

A current case in England has now shown once again what possibilities the Internet now offers for exerting influence. Specifically, it was only about the British Christmas charts, but the media coverage that the scandal caused shows which ones Significance attached to the matter:

Specifically, Facebook a group that called for the song 'Killing in the Name of' by Rage against the Machine to be downloaded as often as possible. This should prevent Joe McElderry, the current winner of the English DSDS variant 'The X-Factor', with his supposedly much more suitable Christmas ballad 'The Climb', from being in first place. Supported by various English media and initially ridiculed by X-Factor makers, the seemingly impossible finally came true: 'Killing in the Name of' sold 1 times, Joe McElderry's single 502.000 times.

While some rejoice that Rage against the Machine has won an unadapted band over the casting show canning and jubilate over statements that will be donating much of the revenue and giving RATM a free concert in England, are now critical voices Because on the one hand the victory would not have been possible without the established media. And on the other hand, there is only one real winner: Sony Music, where the two competing artists are under contract.

Example 2: How critical voices in Twitter make companies change job postings

But it's also possible to go a number smaller, quieter, less scandalous and with less media coverage - and yet no less successfully:

Recently, a lively discussion at Twitter was initiated by the communications consultant Timo Lommatzschto which I thank Sabrina Panknin I aufmerksam was: Lommatzsch pointed to the rather outrageous job advertisement of a PR agency, which, in addition to the usual qualifications (Communication talent, foreign languages, IT) also people with a degree Study was looking for – namely for a one-year internship, at the end of which there was the prospect of being offered a traineeship. A fee was planned, but was not quantified in detail. PR students at the Hanover University of Applied Sciences then asked what kind of remuneration would result from this - and they also received an answer, namely that the remuneration depends on the actual qualifications. In other words, you don't want to commit yourself in any relationship - very seriously :-)!!!

There were further discussions via Twitter and in various blogs - here are two excerpts:

Tweets of PR students):

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Tweets from Tlom):

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Social media is not ineffective

Apparently the social media discussions had had an impact:
Because the surprise was: The PR agency had apparently recognized its mistake and apologized:

However, in the opinion of the agency the mistake was not to have an annual internship with only possible takeover, no, it had simply given in the qualification a confusion and were sought were actually annual trainees with Abitur.

Social media can change behavior

While some may well believe that, others are more skeptical:

Personally, by the way, as a matter of fact, PR agencies usually seek at least students and would not take on any people without a degree in voluntary work. So I think that is an advanced argument. And one must not forget: Also university graduates have Abitur :-)

One thing remains: even a small discussion on Twitter can be found at Companies Creating Behavioral Change - Just Like Big With The English Charts And Rage Against The Machine.