For anyone that spends time monitoring their Tweetdeck, you might have witnessed the incredible powers of social media today around two major stories. I always check my feeds first thing in the morning on the train to work – I like to know how @jangles is feeling about his day, whether @ruskin147 has been out with the dogs before work and what the slightly less influential but equally interesting @rupinjapan has witnessed on his commute. Today, two major stories have been flying around social media networks – that of London Underground vs Old Man and the rather repulsive review of Stephen Gately’s death in the Mail

The first story is down to Jonathan MacDonald who captured a tirade of abuse from a London Underground worker at Holborn tube. The story is shocking and as the comments say, usually us Brits just turn a blind eye and carry on with our journeys. Not Jonathan. Jonathan captured the whole scene on film, blogged it and then sold in the story. He has been interviewed by nearly every broadcaster in the UK and has everyone commenting including Boris Johnson. This is a real example of people power. That staff member guy would usually have got away with it -he won’t this time and as a result, I am sure (hope) we can expect a change in service, especially considering the hike in travel prices.

The second story is about the foul piece by Jan Moir in The Daily Mail - a piece giving her views on the death of Stephen Gately. According to Jan, “He was the Posh Spice of Boyzone, a popular but largely decorous addition…The sugar coating on this fatality is so saccharine-thick that it obscures whatever bitter truth lies beneath…” and other such commentry. The ‘public’ is understandly fuming. Tweeters including @stephenfry and @perezhilton have commented in disgust and as a result, the title has changed and ads have been pulled from around the piece. Some are calling for an apology, others for dismissal.

It makes one feel quite powerful – if we don’t like something now, we can rally our networks to make something change. The views of the online community are increasingly being listened to and that is why it is fundamental that any organisation be it public or private needs to be monitoring online conversations. If London Underground had spoken to Jonathan the second he posted his piece, they might (or might not) have stopped him making it one of the big stories of today. But they didn’t and now they are in a whole heap of the brown stuff.