Two divergent forces at work in our culture today have recently been drawing my attention. The first is the social media revolution that has at its core the ability for millions of citizens the world over to express themselves and find their native communities. Unfortunately, the second force I have in mind is almost the exact polar opposite of this first trend. And that is the consolidation and revanchist behavior of many large institutions including government, quasi-government (think the UN) and multinational corporations. These institutions are only growing in size and power relative to individuals and yet because of social media we are fooled into thinking its not happening, that we have a voice, that our concerns and desires are being taken into consideration.

They aren’t.

It shouldn’t be surprising at all really to know that at the precise moment when the citizenry of this country, and the world, were given the tools to flatten society, the institutions that would suck that power from them are slowly consolidating their own power.

Has anyone witnessed the growth of the government in the U.S. lately and thought to themselves, “that’s ok, because I can speak truth to power on my blog and through my Twitter feed?”

Has anyone seen the massive lobbying efforts by the most toxic industries (energy, healthcare, banking, military contracting) and thought that the rules and regulations being inserted into thousand page bills could be reversed by a Facebook group?

Check out this particular heinous example from the Times:

In a remarkable season of lobbying, business is booming for the Podesta Group, already one of Washington’s biggest players. It has become particularly lucrative for firms like Mr. Podesta’s that are skilled at wielding influence in Congress, the center of epic debates on health care, bailouts and financial regulations.

On the eve of a critical Congressional vote last week on the sweeping financial regulation, for example, Mr. Podesta met with one of the lawmakers to go over some final language and discuss the effect it could have on his many corporate clients.

Once that was over, Mr. Podesta pivoted back to another client, BP, to help the company navigate Congressional waters and, in short, try to prevent an ugly situation from getting even uglier.

For lobbyists, the Obama legislative agenda has been a veritable full-employment program, with 2,500 working just on financial regulation alone.

The results are often buried deep in the fine print.

Social media has done so much to empower so many in our society: individuals, small businesses, local government, activists and grassroots communities. But social media also means that while all these groups are busy tweeting and blogging and sharing their lives and loves and passions and concerns, the wool is once again being pulled over our eyes. We may tweet at Pepsi that their Pepsi Refresh campaign is pathetic and that no matter how much money they give back they are poisoning our bodies with their chemical-dependent sugar water. But they aren’t listening. Are they about to change their entire business? Nope. No matter how toxic their products are to their own customers and the environment.

What is my solution then? I don’t have one, other than to simply say pay attention, and don’t let your own increased importance blind you to the fact that so much of our society is not changing along with us. For many of the worst offenders, those entities that would leech our power as citizens away from us in the name of profits and shareholder value, the social media revolution is nothing but a gnat flying about their faces, ready to be swatted away while they get back down to business.

Image courtesy of Juliana Coutinho on Flickr