Social Networking With a Social Conscience

Most of the buzz around social networking is how it can help advance your career, track down a lost family member or just plain help you fill some empty social gaps in your life. Heck, some people are even making money on the new social networking outlets.

And then some others are making a social impact and possibly thwarting what could be a dangerous incident or potential presidential assassination attempt.

That's exactly what the Political Carnival did this week when the blog alerted the Secret Service to a Facebook poll that asked readers if President Barack Obama should be killed. Once contacted, Facebook removed the poll immediately and the feds are looking into who did it and how it got up on site.

Blogger GottaLaff initially blogged about the poll on September 27, showing a screen shot of it on the blog and also sharing the screen shot with the Secret Service. Shortly after, the feds took action and the Secret Service called to thank the blog for reporting the poll so quickly.

Yes, social networking can help you find lost college friends and give you a venue to expound on your favorite topics. But as this episode illustrates, it can also potentially save a life and thwart some mad minds.

Image courtesy of Political Carnival