While preparing for my column debut, I sat down in front of my laptop to think about what to write. I’m an opinionated freshman in college anxious to share my thoughts with the world on the biggest platform I’ve ever had to share what’s on my mind — and an empty head of ideas. I sat down and read my new colleagues’ columns for that spark to light the flame of inspiration and came up with nothing. I read some of my favorite columnists such as Paul Krugman and Maureen Dowd from the New York Times and lo and behold I could think of nothing. Uninspired, I decided to take some time away from this to go on Facebook and it clicked instantly.

Within the past decade, social media companies like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube have created a way to connect people using methods that were at one point inconceivable to the mind. Virtual networks have been created so people can do anything from uploading and sharing photos and videos with friends to publicly sharing some of their most provocative and incendiary thoughts. Now with over one billion monthly YouTube and Facebook users and over 500 million Twitter accounts, the world is literally in the palm of your hands.

While Facebook, Twitter and YouTube are just a few of the many companies within the realm of social media, there are many others that have served as instruments of change and have created a profound impact on the world as seen in recent movements.

Social media is the new frontier of the Internet and provides the means to express the will of the people by amplifying silenced voices and by providing a global perspective for those whose outlets of expression have been oppressed. In January 2012, the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) was introduced in the House of Representatives “to promote prosperity, creativity, entrepreneurship, and innovation by combating the theft of U.S. property, and for other purposes” (yay!). But in actuality it was a measure created to censor the Internet by creating overzealous copyright protections that would in turn, allow the government to take down content on the Internet that violated copyright laws. The bulk of the Internet is content that is shared by its users and these overreaching copyright laws would stifle the growth and progress of the Internet.

Shortly after the bill was introduced, social media companies initiated a firestorm by backing an “Internet blackout”that restricted our access to a website’s content. Companies like Reddit, Wikipedia and Mozilla all participated by blacking out their home pages and informing their users about what SOPA would mean for the Internet. It was a major mobilizer in creating national opposition to SOPA and soon after the protests, the bill was delayed in the house. Not long thereafter the Internet would again flex its collective muscle by thrusting political conflict into the public eye. The Arab Spring, a revolutionary movement that set in motion a wave of protests in support of democracy, free speech and other western ideas, erupted in the Middle East. It began, arguably, when Mohammed Bouazizi lit himself on fire in response to a policewoman who confiscated his vegetable stand. The policewoman slapped him, spat on him and insulted his dead father. From his protest followed one of the greatest uses of social media that has ever been seen.

In Tahrir Square in Cairo, hundreds and thousands of Egyptians gathered in protest of an age old regime whose rule went uninterrupted for nearly 20 years. Activists would create Facebook events and tweet photos and videos to show the world their fight for a new regime. Eventually over one million people gathered to protest and overturned Egypt’s oppressive government.

Why does any of this matter to the average college student? Well, at or near the roots of the Arab Spring and SOPA, you’ll find a movement that was initiated through some form of social media. If social media can halt the passage of SOPA, then it can surely aid a college campus in moving beyond coal. If social media created an uprising that overthrew oppressive governments throughout an entire region, why can’t we use it to initiate small social or economic reforms that could snowball into a larger agenda? With the evolution of social media, we can finally all be connected in a way we’ve never imagined. The next time there’s an issue that ignites a burning passion within you, just remember that the world is literally at your fingertips.

Matt is a freshman in DGS. He can be reached at [email protected]