Activism unleashed

I’m a strong believer in the potential of the internet to unleash forces previously kept under lock’n'key. And for that reason I’m very fond of a new service called The Point.

Basically The Point allows you to define a cause or higher goal and get people to support you in making it happen. Nothing new there. No, the new thing is that people will only have to act on their pledge, once a sufficient number of people (a number you define) have stated their support.

This may not seem huge, but I think it is. Because don’t we all know a lot of causes and pledges that launches and run out of steam from their initial backers, before a sufficient number of people who support the cause have been recruited? I think we do.

This is a way to do away with all that. Because by telling people, they don’t need to do anything, until critical mass has been reached, it gets much easier to get people to commit. They will know that if enough sign up it will be of such a magnitude that it makes their active contribution worthwhile.

The Point is a multi-purpose tool. It works out if Chicago and is quite US focused. There should be no issue in launching a similar service here in Europe. I for one would welcome it. And I’m sure I’m not at all alone in that.