5 times social media helped bring social change in India

1. When it helped this man get a new typewriter:

65-year-old Kishan Kumar, who had been working as a Hindi typist outside the Lucknow General Post Office for over 30 years was kicked and beaten by the police and had his typewriter smashed to bits and thrown on the ground. A photographer from Dainik Bhaskar documented the entire incident and put up the pictures on Facebook. The post went viral and comedian and lyricist Varun Grover tweeted a plea to come together to raise money to buy Kumar a new typewriter. After several retweets and fundraising pages, six hours after the original Facebook post was shared, chief minister Akhilesh Yadav took notice and had the typewriter replaced.

2. When it mobilised help and rescue operations during the Kashmir floods:

When devastating floods hit Kashmir in September last year, social media provided tremendous relief. Two dedicated Army officers managed social media accounts (the AGDPI Facebook Group with 1.3 million followers and the Twitter handle with more than two lakh followers) of the Army, which received distress messages and tweets largely between 5pm and 1.30am every day. This process was streamlined with the help of the smartfeed created by Twitter India, through which tweets were routed to the Army to help with operations - this included tweets tagged with #SOS, #KashmirFloods, related to people stranded and needing rescue. This, along with various independent groups online which collected relief resources through tweets and Facebook posts were successful in saving many lives.

3. When it helped raise money for Friendicoes:

One of the leading animal rescue organisations Friendicoes was debt-ridden to the point that it may have needed to shut down operations. However, viral Facebook posts and tweets, fundraiser pages and events (also promoted online) led to the organisation raising Rs 46 lakhs, with 1,600 contributors online.

4. When it helped rescue an Indian woman in the UAE: On August 22, Dev Tamboli tweeted at Sushma Swaraj saying, "Need help for my sister in UAE. She went for job on 14th but now locked in a room pls contact me +97xxxxxx". Swaraj responded promptly saying she had spoken to the ambassador, who would contact Tamboli and help out. Soon after, Swaraj tweeted about the girl being rescued and that she was being moved to a shelter run by the Indian embassy.

@SushmaSwaraj she has been kept captive with some other girls. And are even beaten. Pls help

— Dev Tamboli (@Devtamboli) August 21, 2015

We have rescued your sister with help of local Police. She is being moved to a shelter home run by Indian Embassy in Dubai. @Devtamboli

— Sushma Swaraj (@SushmaSwaraj) August 22, 2015

5. When it helped this 13-year-old raise Rs 10 lakh:

Meera Mehta, a student of the Aditya Birla World Academy School raised Rs 10 lakh in 2013 when she was just 13, after posting the goals and achievements of the NGO Shrimad Rajchandra Love and Care, which does social work for patients and children who live in rural India. She posted pictures of success stories from her NGO - "a boy who had cerebral palsy and was cured" - to her Instagram account. She had her own page on unitedwaymumbai.org and the funds were all donated online after people noticed the work being done and the money required.