Here's a riddle.

I am as powerful as the mightiest man and as weak as a child. I appeal to all people but agree with no one. I am from every country and speak every language. I want to repeal Prop 8, and I stand behind Prop 8. I make activism within reach of all, but my activism isn't always active. What am I?

If you guessed Facebook, chances are you already belong to at least one "1 million strong" group on the popular social networking site.

Facebook, and to a lesser extent the sites Twitter and MySpace, are changing activism for Generations X, Y and plenty of others. It has broken down barriers between countries and allowed people from all over the world to unite in their favorite causes. It can be as big as the 4-million-plus "Feed a Child with Just a Click" group, or as small as BYU's fledgling Students for Life, membership eight.

It can also take the cohesive power of a group on a mission and dilute it with a whole bunch of people who joined with a click and never returned to the group's site again. Just two generations removed from Kent State and Martin Luther King Jr., political involvement can be watered down, sterile and meaningless.

Bursting the Facebook bubble

On June 6, the Rock Canyon Advocates celebrated National Trails Day with a cleanup of the Rock Canyon trail, a letter-writing campaign to local representatives and a benefit concert to raise awareness of a cause right in Provo's backyard -- the possible quarrying of the canyon. The group's Facebook page listed the event in all caps and encouraged their almost 3,000 members to show up and show their support.

Most didn't. Attendance was actually lower than expected, given the popularity of the group online.

"I think the general population feels like, 'Oh, if I'm a part of this group, I've done my part,' " administrator Katie Sereno said. "They don't really go beyond that."

It's the same story for the Student Provo City Alliance, a group that exists on- and offline and is in place so BYU students can work more effectively with the Provo city government. Publicity chairman Brian Casaday said only a few of the about 200 members are involved, and many of the people who are actively working with the cause haven't even bothered to sign up on Facebook.

"It is sort of a short-term, noncommittal resource," he said. "A lot of people will join a Facebook group without any expectations of doing anything beyond that."

Obamamania

It doesn't have to be that way, said BYU political science professor Quin Monson. He thinks social networking actually represents a new wave of activism and one that, if harnessed and used, can do for its causes what it did for President Barack Obama -- mobilize a previously latent group of individuals and get them involved.

"The key is if you can motivate them to do anything beyond joining the Facebook group," he said. "That's where I think the real unknown is."

Obama's campaign, geared toward younger voters, accessed them through Facebook and then, when the users joined the group, gave them a host of other activities they could do to help Obama. That could be anything from giving information so people could learn more about Obama's stance on issues to inviting friends to join the Facebook group to going to an event or knocking a few doors. People could do as much or as little as they wanted, and they could do it while sitting at home.

In that case, the Facebook group was merely the portal to real involvement in the political process, and that's the way future political candidates and social activists will have to use this tool.

"If all you do is form a Facebook group and people join it, I don't think that's particularly effective or powerful, but if you can get a group to write letters, show up at a council meeting, converge on a neighborhood and knock doors, then you're really on to something," Monson said.

That's the path the Patrick Henry Caucus is taking. The group, which started out with five Utah legislators to return to the idea of states' rights, took its cause to Facebook to get its message out. Tyrel Mansfield, who is the Facebook group creator, said the site has been a way to advertise meetings, solicit involvement and find out where the interested people are.

"It's been extremely effective," he said.

Mansfield, a resident of Salt Lake City, went to St. George this week to speak to a group that originated from the Facebook group, and they are using the Internet to find people throughout the nation who want to hold cottage meetings and who are willing to write to their legislators about certain issues. They also point to news links and action updates and invite members to talk to their friends.

"The more local that the government can become, the better represented the people are," he said.

The group has more than 2,000 members online from a number of different states throughout the nation.

The Rock Canyon Advocates have plenty of tasks for people who get online as well, easy ones that people can do in a couple of minutes while they're at their computers, Sereno said. People can take a survey about Rock Canyon or go to the organization's Web site to get more details. And if nothing else, it raises awareness in the community.

Awareness and image

That awareness is both a pro and a con. For Sereno's cause, they need people who have money and influence within the community, she said. Although Provo Municipal Council Vice Chairwoman Sherrie Hall Everett is a member of the group, most of the members do not fit into this category. Nor do most seem to want to participate, so the united front falls apart.

"It lets everyone know and it kind of brings awareness, but I also think it kind of diminishes causes in comparison to actual rallies," she said.

But awareness was exactly what the Cleverly family wanted, when BYU student Camille Cleverly disappeared in Provo in 2007, so up went a "Help Find Camille" group on Facebook. It served a number of purposes, said Staci Cleverly, Camille's sister-in-law, but getting the word out was No. 1.

"It was just a good way to get her face out there so that people could be aware. A lot more people look at Facebook than 'America's Most Wanted,' " she said. "This is a way to keep it up there all the time."

The family also posted information about upcoming searches and updates on Camille so people could participate or at least stay informed. Many people from around the world also joined the group just to offer support or send messages to the family through the site.

"That was really good for morale," Cleverly said.

After a 10-day search, Camille's body was found in Provo Canyon; she went hiking by herself along Bridal Veil Falls and fell. Cleverly said the original Facebook site does not see much use anymore, but they have a private Facebook group to keep in touch with Camille's friends and the people who helped search for her, and they occasionally get together. She also used the private site to ask for volunteers in the search for 7-year-old Hser Ner Moo, who disappeared and was later found dead in South Salt Lake about a year ago.

Image is more what Casaday worries about with the Student Provo City Alliance. Facebook is a fast, easy way to raise awareness, but the organizers also believe it's an unprofessional way to do business.

But, and this is the kicker that groups can't get away from, no matter the downsides of Facebook: it works.

"It was initially through Facebook that I got involved myself," Casaday said.

Philpotmania

Two weeks ago Morgan Philpot was a relative unknown in the Utah Republican Party. He was running for state vice chair against incumbent Todd Weiler. He didn't have money for a big campaign. He started out with little name recognition. But his campaign manager, a political blogger, turned to the resource she knows.

"Mostly we had to use the social media to get the word out, and it worked for us," said Holly Richardson.

They created a Facebook group, and both Richardson and Philpot used Twitter to keep people updated on events, information and Philpot's stances on different issues. Richardson said she asked for volunteers through the Facebook group and sent those volunteers out to do traditional campaigning -- making phone calls, inviting people to neighborhood meetings and so on. Those volunteers also would ask the people they called if they had Facebook accounts and would direct them to Philpot's page.

Philpot won the June 12 election, with about 52 percent of the delegates voting for him.

"Absolutely, Facebook was very effective," Richardson said, adding that people regularly told her they saw how much work the campaign entailed through all the online updates.

And if she did it again?

"I think we'd do as much on Facebook, probably a little more on Twitter. Absolutely I would use it again," she said. "And we'd be a little more proactive in talking to the delegates about that."

This is what the future of campaigning will look like, Monson said. Yard signs, cold calling and rallies won't fade off into the sunset, but smart candidates will use this other tool to reach large segments of the population, and then once they've reached them and convinced them, they'll use those people to reach others.

The rallies will get bigger, Monson said, and they'll be organized in half the time. Word will spread "virally," and thousands of people can pick up on a message in a few hours that previously would have taken weeks to get out.

Champ or chump

Thousands of people lining the Washington Mall in protest doesn't have the same ring as joining the "1 Million Against the War in Iraq" Facebook group.

But it can have the same effectiveness, if enough of the million of any group are actively working toward the chosen cause. Once a Facebook user has done more than just sign up, he's probably hooked, Monson said. Once he's blogged about what he read on the Facebook site or written a letter to his congressman or donated money, he's probably hooked.

Just ask President Obama.

"Once you've got them to do something else, then you really know they're committed and not just signing up on a whim," Monson said. "It's a big difference between clicking on something on Facebook and signing up and entering your credit card number."

• Heidi Toth can be reached at (801) 344-2556 or htoth@heraldextra.com.

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