Barely a week goes by without the national media waxing lyrical about “social networking websites” in an attempt to bridge the largest inter-generational cultural gap since rock ‘n’ roll first appeared in the fifties. The fascination, in particular, with Facebook groups and the various political campaigns and social statements they make is repeatedly highlighted.

However, the “soft news” approach fails to tackle one of the key issues that such a phenomenon has given rise to. Social networking websites, and the ubiquitous Facebook more so than others, allow for the finding and near instantaneous assimilation of like-minded individuals into an online community. This is a banal point, so often paid lip-service, but one of great consequence when one considers that many people most often use the internet not to challenge their conceptions and world-views but, rather, to reaffirm them. These homogenous groups, which frequently give little attention to dissenting views, offer an opportunity for the promotion of fringe literature and deeply flawed thought processes which escape the scrutiny of opposing ideals. Often, this merely amounts to the harmless exposure of a young socialist to Marxism without making them aware of the following hundred years of criticism and counter-arguments. More worryingly, is the occasional co-opting of an enthusiastic conservative into communities supportive of Enoch Powell and the Monday Club.

At the most extreme and subversive level is, as Miles Johnson reports this issue, the organisation and recruitment of Islamic extremists who seek to carry out armed jihad against the West. Such organisations existed long before Facebook, indeed long before the internet, but recent technological developments have hugely facilitated the quick and effective organisation, radicalisation and mobilisation of people on a large scale, if not always in terms of population, then certainly in terms of geography. For the “alienated young British Muslim” of post-2005 government literature, finding community and encouragement within such organisations as Ahlus Sunnah wal Jama'ah is made all the more easy by Google, and contacting members and sympathisers through Facebook helps seal the deal.

Web analysts predict that social networking websites will fundamentally and irrevocably change the way in which people use the internet in decades to come, merging the online realm with “the real world.” One of the main problems though, is that it is much harder for an individual to steer clear of dissenting views if actively engaged in society—through education, work and social activities—than when that individual is let loose behind the anonymous curtain of the internet.

Quick and cheap mass organisation has largely been positive. Indeed, only this week an international protest has been taking place against the practices of the Church of Scientology, a protest organised through the video-sharing website, Youtube. What is important though, is that we understand that social networking sites are not benign by design, rather by practice.