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Students Stage Virtual Protest on Facebook

by Tim Stevens on August 31, 2007 at 10:20 AM

Students Stage Virtual Protest on Facebook

College is an awfully expensive time, leaving most graduating students completely broke or, more likely, buried under reams of college loan books. For those who don't find a job immediately after graduation, things get worse as loan payments quickly come due.

At least students who banked with Hong Kong-based HSBC could always count on the bank's free overdraft protection on checking accounts -- that is, until the bank recently announced that the program was slated for termination.

Fortunately, we no longer live in a time when "writing a letter" is your only recourse in a situation such as this. When students learned of HSBC's plans, they massed together on Facebook in an interesting sort of virtual protest -- a protest that led to the bank axing the interest fees and keeping the program in place.

This is reminiscent of the trashing Wal-Mart recently took when it created its own Facebook group. However the negative feedback there was directed toward the company's overall business practices, something Wal-Mart is unlikely to change based on a few thousand posts on a Web site (since it's those very practices that have enabled it to stay profitable). The HSBC protest, on the other hand, was more focused on that single issue of interest on overdrafts, organized by the National Union of Students (NUS). The group set up a group on Facebook to keep in touch with students and organize the protest. NUS Vice President Wes Streeting indicated that it was Facebook that enabled them to get the program re-instated, saying: "There can be no doubt that using Facebook made the world of difference to our campaign."

It just goes to show that today's youth is, after all, still willing to stand up for something they believe in ... so long as it doesn't require they actually stand up.

From BBC News

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Tags: Facebook, HSBC

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