( CNN ) -- The singer Gil Scott Heron once declared that `` the revolution will not be televised . '' Em Hall , the `` D.C . Goodwill Fashionista , '' transformed Goodwill 's image with a witty blog . It is , however , going online . Social activism is being transformed by the Web . Some of the most creative forms of protest and philanthropy are taking place online . Activists are conducting demonstrations on YouTube , holding virtual fundraisers and using social network sites like Facebook to change the world -- one mouse-click at a time . These cyber-pioneers include a nonprofit group that uses animated 3-D characters to protest the global shortage of drinking water ; a Web company that allows ordinary people to create their own personalized charity ; and a Goodwill blogger who reshaped the thrift store 's image so thoroughly she was invited to New York Fashion Week . Ted Hart , co-author of `` People to People Fundraising : Social Networking and Web 2.0 for Charities , '' says the Web has already become a crucial source for nonprofit fundraising . Americans donated $ 550 million online in 2001 , but that number grew to $ 10.4 billion in 2007 , he says . `` It 's a new world for a lot of nonprofit organizations , '' Hart says . `` No longer is it good enough to say give us some money . The rules have changed . '' Yet some people warn that this new world offers people an excuse to engage in `` drive-by activism , '' superficial forms of cyber-activism that require little commitment . `` The Internet makes it very easy for people to jump in and out of social activism , '' says Matthew Hale , assistant professor at Seton Hall University 's Center for Public Service . `` If all the activism is online , it is easier to quit than going to meetings every week . '' Real change : online or in-person ? Yet the Web makes it easier for a nonprofit group to reach more people than a meeting ever could , one nonprofit group says . WaterPartners International is a U.S.-based nonprofit group that created a global campaign to create safe drinking water . Another company may have flown a spokesperson to an impoverished village and hired a film crew to promote their campaign . But WaterPartners says it saved money and time by putting its campaign online -- through animated , virtual characters built from actual people , says Nicole Wickenhauser , a company spokesperson . Daily Web traffic doubled to WaterPartners ' Web site during the campaign and the campaign attracted support from around the globe , Wickenhauser says . `` Real change is most often accomplished by committed individuals working together for a cause they feel passionately about , '' Wickenhauser says . `` Whether they work together virtually or in person is less important . '' Web-based activism not only enlarges the reach of social activists , it empowers ordinary people , its advocates say . In another time , a person had to find a charity to give their time and money to . Now they can create their own charity through Web sites like `` YourCause.com . '' YourCause.com has been described as a MySpace for do-gooders . The new site allows a person to do everything a charity traditionally does -- raise money and awareness and recruit support -- all from a Web page designed especially for their needs . Matthew Combs , the site 's co-founder , says his site designs Web pages and vets charities for people who do n't have the time or expertise to do it themselves . `` It 's for people like the 73-year-old woman from New Jersey who created her own page to help out with a rare genetic defect she 's suffering from , '' Combs says . `` There 's not a lot of 73-year-olds on MySpace . How do we make it easy as possible for them , but credible ? '' Social network sites like MySpace are also throwing their support behind Web activists . MySpace has an `` Impact '' page that connects users with political and charitable causes . YouTube recently launched a `` Nonprofits and Activism '' channel . 'The reaction was priceless ' One of the most audacious forms of Web-based activism comes courtesy of Em Hall , also known by her blog name , the DC Goodwill Fashionista . When Goodwill of Greater Washington wanted to expand its customer base , its leaders devised a campaign to reach out to a younger , hipper crowd . The campaign 's centerpiece was Hall . In her witty blog , She dispensed fashion advice , conducted an online virtual fashion show and sold Goodwill clothing on eBay ( she once sold an $ 11.98 suit for $ 175 on eBay . ) Hall 's blog averages 1,500 readers a week and has attracted readers from at least 100 countries , says Brendan Hurley , a Goodwill spokesman . Hall 's blog became so popular she was invited in September to Fashion Week , a high-octane fashion show that features the world 's most popular designers . Hall still recalls how Fashion Week officials acted when she told them what clothing label -- Goodwill -- she represented . `` The reaction was priceless , '' she says . `` A look of confusion came across people 's faces as they desperately tried to figure out why Goodwill was at Fashion Week . '' Despite the possibilities created by the Web , calling people to action still depends on people putting their bodies -- not just their mouse-clicks -- on the line , says Hale , the Seton Hall professor . `` All of the stuff you can do online ultimately has to show up in the real world , '' Hale says . `` I do n't see the Internet as a substitute [ for social activism ] but as a complement to it . '' Paul Loeb , author of `` The Soul of a Citizen , '' a book that examines the psychology of social activism , also says online activism can be powerful but limited . He tells a story from his book to make his point . He says a friend took her kids to a protest against nuclear testing in front of the White House during the early 1960s . But she became dejected because only a few people joined her demonstration and then it rained . Years later , the same woman attended a major march against nuclear testing . Benjamin Spock , the best-selling author and pediatrician who opposed the Vietnam War , was a featured speaker . He told marchers that he was inspired to join the march after seeing a small group of women huddled with their kids in the rain while marching in front of the White House years earlier . `` I thought that if those women were out there , '' Spock said , `` their cause must be really important . '' `` He 's seeing these ragged women in the rain and it touches his heart and he ends up getting changed by that , '' Loeb says . `` That story could n't exist in the virtual world . ''
The Web unleashes new wave of cyber-activism . Activists changing the world one mouse-click at a time . The Web `` changes the rules '' for nonprofit groups , expert says .