I recently read a book on the power of new technology and the Internet and how it can be harnessed to accomplish good on a scale never before imagined.

In his book “Cognitive Surplus,” author Clay Shirky describes several far-reaching events in which unlikely individuals banned together to change society for the better. It was inspiring to read about all the good that can be accomplished through the new tools of social media, such as Facebook and Twitter.

For example, over 15,000 individuals connected through a Facebook page and helped overturn a radical religious group that had been beating up women in India who did not live by the radical group’s tenets. (pages 169-171) The 15,000 strong were no match for this radical group.

Shirky also talks about “people you don’t know, making your life better for free.” (page 114) He writes about free programming for software projects that allow others to benefit at no cost. Imagine that, people are spending their own time and energy creating easy-to-use programs for the Internet, and then allowing anyone to use and/or modify it for free.

The one thing Shirky does not discuss in his book is the flip side of social media: people using it for something not so good.

This summer there has been a surge of bad created by the very social media that has done so much good. I first heard about it on TV news and read about it in a newspaper. (Yes, I still read a real paper.) Perhaps you heard, too. Groups of (mostly) young people using Facebook and Twitter to organize “flash mobs” to rob and attack bystanders.

The police in Philadelphia have instituted a curfew for those 18 and under, and the FBI are tracking criminal use of social media. The police in New York City are trying to reach kids through Facebook and Twitter as a preventative measure.

One question I have is, since most of those participating in these “flash mobs of bad” are under 18, where are their parents? I’d heard that some as young as 11 have been involved. How did they get these devices to tweet and text in the first place? If a parent gives their child a gun, and the child uses the gun for bad, then the parent is held responsible. Does this hold true for a parent who gives a child a technical tool (cellphone), pays for the subscription with texting and Internet apps, and the child uses this tool for bad?

There are discussions about First Amendment rights to use social media, as long as it is not overtly criminal. Some suggest government regulation. Well, being from what used to be called a “free and open press,” I don’t agree with governmental regulation of free speech. Once regulation gets in the picture, who knows where it’ll lead.

Even without the new social media tools, people have been using words on parchment and paper to do both good and bad for centuries. Are we surprised that people now use words on social media for both good and bad? It’s not the words they’re using that cause harm, it’s their actions. The solution, as I see it, is holding individuals (and the parents of the underaged) responsible for their actions.

It’s hard to say if this “flash mob attack” mentality is just a passing phase or a very real threatening trend. It is, however, unsettling, especially for the victims.

I don’t know how the authorities will figure this one out. And because I’m not a sociologist and don’t know much about analyzing criminal behavior or trying to stop it in the young, I don’t have the answers. I can only hope that there continues to be more individuals who use social media for good than for bad.

Something really nice happened today. You know the feeling. I’ve been working on a project for months, going back and forth with an agency designed to help with such things. And today it finally came through.

The gentleman whose job it is to help people like me, actually went the extra mile or two. I know he did, because several others in that office initially gave me the brush-off and wouldn’t even consider my request. But he did, because it was legitimate, and because he cares.

I called his phone line expecting to get the receptionist, but he answered. I tried to thank him, and was all chocked up. Where are words when you need them. The only coherent words that came out of my throat were, “thank you.”

I guess because he’s been through this hundreds of times in his career, he knew what I wanted to say, and he knew I was sincere.

Those two words “Thank you” can mean a lot to anyone that receives them. There are books and cards and blogs and articles on when and how to use them depending on the situation.

You can say “Thank you” in just about every language. In Japanese, there are levels of politeness, depending on how polite you want to be and with whom you’re speaking.

What’s important is that you actually say them when someone helps you, or does something nice or unexpected.

Today, the gentleman who helped me graciously accepted my, “Thank you.”

There is still more work to do on this project, though the first and toughest hurdle is over. I am happy to be moving forward.

How many times have you heard the phrase “a picture is worth a thousand words”? There is even a song about it. And there are memorable, beautiful paintings and photographs.

However, before accepting this notion as gospel, consider this: the US Declaration of Independence contains about 1400 words, depending on which draft is used and if the names of the signers are counted. (Yes, these details matter to some.)

Can you think of two pictures, that combined together, have as much power to change the world as this piece of parchment full of words did back in 1776?

Or what about the Gettysburg Address? It is considered “one of the most significant speeches in American history,” and it is said that Abraham Lincoln took inspiration from the Declaration of Independence. In just 270 words (or 272 if you include the phrase “under God”) Lincoln was able to unify his people in the face of horrible violence.

Yes sometimes it appears that words are meaningless today, considering what most of us chat about everyday. And with Twitter and texting, words are reduced to abbreviations such as lol. It’s like a whole new language, the language of abbreviations.

I believe the words we use everyday have power and can shape relationships and events even in the smallest way.

As an example, while I was grocery shopping I heard screaming from the next aisle. A mother was yelling unprintable words at her toddler. I understand that sometimes small children can get on a parent’s nerves. But are toddlers really so bad that they deserve to be spoken to as if they were worse than criminals, and by their own parents? Would parents dare to speak to their friends that way? They must understand the power of their words, or why else would they use them to “discipline” their children? It’s very sad.

Words, even simple ones, have the power to change things bit by bit if used every day. Consider: “Please.” “Thank you.” “I’m sorry.” “You’re wonderful.”  “I love you.”

If people used more positive uplifting words everyday, wouldn’t it change things, for the better? I think so. That’s because the words we use have power.

What motivates you? Specifically what motivates you (and other people) to do something good for someone else, even if there’s no reward and no one will find out about it?

There are quite a few articles on the Internet about extrinsic and intrinsic motivation. Extrinsic motivations deal with a reward: getting money, attention, fame. And there are plenty of psychological analyses to explain human behavior. Marketers study motivation to try to get the most customers.

Even for intrinsic, or internal, factors, some would “suggest that self-interest lies at the root of all superficially ‘moral’ behaviour,” as Celia Kitzinger says in an article “Born to be good?” on the CBS Interactive Business Network.

Kitzinger describes an experiment in which a person was asked to pull a lever to give another person who was strapped to a chair a “shock” of electricity if the second person did something wrong. Even though the captive screamed with pain and pleaded for it to stop, the first person continued to pull the lever to give increasingly higher volts of electricity because they were told by the one in control to continue.

Could you give a person severe electrical shocks just because someone in authority said so? It’s interesting that the third who stopped weren’t asked why they stopped.

In the years I worked in newspapers I saw a lot of the dark side of people, corrupt politicians, extortionists, thieves, men who murdered their wives or girlfriends, or hired someone else to do it, and just ordinary people who “minded their own business” when someone else was being killed, raped, beaten, you name it.

On the other hand, there was a story that I was involved with in which a 60-year-old autistic man lost all the money his parents saved for him and the house he lived in his entire life, because it turned out the man entrusted with managing the money after the parents died, couldn’t be trusted, even though he was considered a “good, church-going” man. Ronnie lost his home and most of his belongings and had to move to a group “home” run by the government.

When the story ran on the front page of the newspaper on a Sunday morning, an unexpected thing happened.  People started calling in and mailing in donations. These were small donations, not much more than $1 or $5 each. A fund was set up for Ronnie, and by the end of the month $70,000 had been donated to help him. These donations were from our readers, about 1 million at the time, who had never met him and had no connection to him, and yet did what they could to help.

When state legislators read the article, they said they were so moved that they crafted new legislation, “Ronnie’s Law,” to protect people like him from losing everything because of unscrupulous executors.

There are good people in the world, and bad ones, too. But I’m guessing there are more good than bad, and when the right motivation comes along, the collective acts of kindness from the good people can make a difference, as it did for Ronnie.

While working as a newspaper journalist/photographer for over a decade, I often wondered what it was like to be a columnist who wrote opinion pieces. Well, now I have a chance to find out. Through a college course project, I am required to jump into the world of social media by creating my own blog. So, here goes.

Because I am interested in so many things, I’ll start out by writing about whatever subject interests me at the time. Then, maybe a particular subject may begin to take prominence. Who knows?

To start, creating this blog was an experience itself. Research lead me to sign up with Bluehost.com because, first, I could reach a live person 24/7 if I needed help. And I did. And second they have an excellent promotional deal. I had considered starting a free blog at WordPress.com, however, there is no phone number to reach a live person. If you have issues you have to email them. I’d rather talk to a person and get the issue resolved quickly. I did have an issue, and the bluehost tech support resolved it in minutes. Thanks!