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# Giving the small group a leg up
- URL: https://interhacktives.mymagic.page/giving-the-small-group-a-leg-up/
- Published: 2011-10-22T12:09:12.000Z
- Updated: 2011-10-22T12:09:12.000Z
- Author: MsAntoniaK
- Tags: News, clubs, Henry Hemming, McMillan & Chavis, sense of community, social media, #Migrated-1793717950415, #wp, #wp-post, #Import 2026-11-03 14:59

Antonia Kanczula

There’s a great deal of public discourse about the corrosive impact of the internet on bonds and relationships – and our over-reliance on social media, to the detriment of real-life connections.

But on the flipside, it has unparalleled ability to unite – give a voice to those who’d otherwise be off the radar and glue together people with a common cause, whether that cause is saving a village hall or bringing about high-level political change. And it’s the major reason that far from being a fractured and disconnected nation (listen up Daily Mail), Britain is fizzing with group activity, according to author [Henry Hemming](http://henryhemming.com/?ref=interhacktives.mymagic.page) in his recent book *Together: How Small Groups Achieve Big Things*.

[![](http://www.interhacktives.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/together.jpg?w=195 "Together")](http://www.interhacktives.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/together.jpg?ref=interhacktives.mymagic.page)

Hemming cites countless, disparate groups – from the Blackburn and East Lancashire Beekeepers' Association to the Colchester Natural History Society – for whom the web is lifeblood. On a very basic level, he praises the unifying power of email, and believes it has a trio of bonding benefits. First, it allows groups to simmer between in-person meetings. Second, by enabling group members to exchange tips and advice, it boosts the feeling of fellowship. And finally, en masse emailing helps groups gain character.

*“\[It\]...comes closer than any other communicative medium to recreating at almost no cost the kind of shared, multi-part discussion that you find within the meeting of an association. It does this in an undemanding way.”*

Beyond the simple medium of email, groups can set up websites effortlessly, and the interested public can locate them just as effortlessly. Historically, anything that has made communication faster, and most crucially cheaper, has facilitated a boom in associations. Ergo, the internet’s forebears include Gutenberg’s printing press and the Penny Post.

*“It allows a small group without any financial backing to transmit the equivalent of an elaborate advertisement at very little cost.”*

Groups can use the web to build an identity, and in turn a sense of belonging. These are identified in [McMillan and Chavis's](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sense%5Fof%5Fcommunity?ref=interhacktives.mymagic.page#Primary%5Ftheoretical%5Ffoundation:%5FMcMillan%5Fand%5FChavis) ground-breaking work as psychologically key to the development of community.

*“A website can become a virtual clubhouse that anyone can visit. It contains mementos of the club’s past, an account of its history and a sense of what makes it different, what defines it.”*

Hemming isn’t arguing that virtual group-building by Facebook et al is a substitute for face-to-face meetings, moreover that it can aid, galvanise and encourage real-life contact. And incidentally I went to see him talk about his work at the [Big Green Bookshop](http://www.biggreenbookshop.com/?ref=interhacktives.mymagic.page) in north London; I can’t think of a more apt place – the guys who run it are consummate social media practitioners and also a lynchpin in my real-life local community.