While most people seem to think of things like Twitter, Facebook, or Friendfeed when the term social media is bandied about these are just the tools which let us be a part of Social Media. As important as this concept of a democratized egalitarian use of the web might be I have also believed as well in what I called Social Technology. For me the combination of both those things could have a incredible impact on our society.

At the same time though I have been torn by the ideals of what we could have and the realities of what we do have. Technology while considered to be a great equalizer is in my opinion also a great divider, where we have a growing class of people who have extremely limited, or no access to technology and the Web. Then on the other side we have those that buy and use the newest toys as they become available without a second thought, and seem to live in some idealized bubble.

For Social Media, and Social Technology, to succeed and live up to its potential everything possible should be done to remove any, and all, barriers that stop us from being able to bridge, then shrink that divide. So when I chanced across a post on the Wall Street Journal Online today about how even the homeless are managing to connect themselves I felt a small sense of hope.

The post by Phred Dvorak related the stories of several people spread from New York to San Francisco who have managed to find ways to keep themselves connected to the web even though they were homeless. Such Mr. Charles Pitts for whom the Internet is something that you just can’t do without.

Like most San Franciscans, Charles Pitts is wired. Mr. Pitts, who is 37 years old, has accounts on Facebook, MySpace and Twitter. He runs an Internet forum on Yahoo, reads news online and keeps in touch with friends via email. The tough part is managing this digital lifestyle from his residence under a highway bridge.

"You don’t need a TV. You don’t need a radio. You don’t even need a newspaper," says Mr. Pitts, an aspiring poet in a purple cap and yellow fleece jacket, who says he has been homeless for two years. "But you need the Internet."

From street poets like Pitts to homeless philosophers like 64 year old Skip Schreiber the invisible people are letting the world know that they do indeed exist and that they matter. As Skip says – no one creates themselves as a homeless person.

In the van, stacked with toolboxes, electric gear and bedding, Mr. Schreiber shows the contents of his laptop, including the complete California legal code and files on thinkers from Thomas Aquinas to the psychologist Philip Zimbardo. Mr. Schreiber says writings about human behavior and motivation help make sense of what has happened to him.

"No one creates themselves as a homeless person," he says. "We make the choices we can with what we’re offered."

For many of these homeless people this ability to connect to the web, and be considered a valuable participant, has been a lifeboat – a way to maintain some sense of dignity in a world constantly trying to take it away from them.

One recent morning, Mr. Livingston sat in a cafe that sometimes lets customers tap its wireless connection, and shows off his personal home page, featuring links for Chinese-language lessons.

Mr. Livingston says his computer helps him feel more connected and human. "It’s frightening to be homeless," he says. "When I’m on here, I’m equal to everybody else."

At any point anyone of us could end up homeless but by combining both social media and social technology we don’t need to be alone, set adrift in an uncaring world. Being homeless, or even just one poverty line away from it, can be a soul destroying experience that not very many of us could survive but we don’t need it to be one that is experienced alone. We have all the tools and the social conscience to not let that happen.

So what are you doing with that old laptop gathering dust in the corner? You might be a part of social media but how about being a part of social technology an help give someone back a sense of hope and dignity?

Is it really that hard to do?

Picture: Brian L. Frank for The Wall Street Journal