I was one of the generation that sat back and watched as the New Labour Govt put University out of reach for many by introducing fees for degrees. My year was one of the very last to have received a “free” university education (although I still had to take out student loans and take on what was virtually a full-time job in order to pay my way). Ironically we were also the students that went out and voted in droves for the Labour landslide in ‘97 and I’m certain that our trust in the new regime also led many of us to think that whatever they wanted to do would be for the good of the country (see: Iraq).

When the announcement came that the new Government were going back on their manifesto pledge (Namely: “We have no plans to introduce University top-up fees, and have legislated to prevent their introduction") our response was weak, almost to the point of embarrassing. A few protests and a couple of demonstrations, but other than that, a pretty easy time for the Govt.

This always left me feeling a little ashamed of myself for not having done more. I loved my Uni days and would not have swapped them for anything. I was one of those rare students that really enjoyed my course (Politics and Contemporary History) and really enjoyed my lectures and seminars. The fact that Uni was being whipped away from so many people as a result of this measure is one that really concerned me.

I can’t help feeling that if this had happened in the 60’s or 70’s there would have been a massive student revolt with slightly more militant action forcing the Govt to back-down.

It was therefore with great interest that I read about the way in which HSBC were forced to back down on their plan to charge graduate accounts following a viral campaign on Facebook which brought with it a very real threat of chaos in its branches.

Using emails, text messages and social networking sites, the students wanted a legal way of showing dissatisfaction of HSBC’s adding to their existing debts and planned a series of flash-mob type queues in city centre branches which would have effectively brought them to a halt.

Thousands of students signed up to condemn the bank’s new charge and facing the prospect of massive disruption, the bank’s executives decided that it would be sensible to freeze the charging scheme and provide refunds on interest already taken.

NUS vice-president Wes Streeting, who set up the Facebook protest, said: “Using Facebook made a world of difference to our campaign. By setting up a group on a site that is incredibly popular with students, it enabled us to contact students during the summer vacation far more easily than would otherwise have been possible. It also meant that we could involve former members - graduates who were going to be most affected by this policy.”

Read more about the HSBC case study.

With a platform such as Facebook, the possibilities for creating an organized protest and mobilizing large numbers of people to take action is much more viable. I wonder if this would have made a difference had it been around a few years back?