The grain of truth in the hype

I take most sweeping declarations about the power of social networking with a healthy pinch of suspicion, but one thing I saw today did make me appreciate it. In a group for one of the professional organisations on a social networking site, a number of translators had posted about payment issues with a particular company. Knowing that others were experiencing problems - and that in some cases payment had been outstanding for some time - one after another announced that they were taking action through the small claims courts.

As freelancers working from home or small offices, I often feel that translators don't benefit from the aspects of a tighter-knit community that would allow them to follow issues like this, get the information they need, when they need it, from the right people and this means there's little in the way of collective response. But this certainly made a difference, both to the translators and, I would guess, the company involved. I still don't think the world will be revolutionised quite yet, but I'm starting to see how it can change things.