In order to be world-changing, Facebook and Twitter don't have to fundamentally change the way humans communicate and organize into movements. Because they don'

In order to be world-changing, Facebook and Twitter don't have to fundamentally change the way humans communicate and organize into movements. Because they don't -- as you pointed out, humans have followed these patterns time and time again, all throughout history, and nothing about social networks has fundamentally changed this. But that doesn't mean they're not world-changing. Simply amplifying our capacity to communicate and organize around ideas is a huge leap forward. What used to take months or years to reach a critical mass could, on today's technology, take days or even hours. I think you're really onto something when you say that "current movements are much more tamer and less populated" than seen historically. I'd theorize that current movements are happening sooner and in smaller spurts largely because social networks lower the required breaking point. It's easier than ever to organize around a perceived injustice, so what once would have grown and festered until it reached a huge breaking point now only requires a single viral video to draw crowds.