The Nag.net - an online problem solving platform that uses the power of the crowd to tackle key social and environmental issues - was re-launched this week with more than 8000 users who will use online ‘crowd power’ to snowball real-life individual actions into change on a big scale.

The way The Nag works is simple. People visit the site and get something off their chest, a rant, a wish or an idea. Sometimes it’s enough just to be angry. Other people view the thoughts and add suggestions or solutions. It doesn’t have to be a big global issue - maybe just something like an efficient car pooling system for a small group of people to get to work. The site then uses the collective know how of the crowd (8000 users and counting) to work together. If the crowd like the solution they can turn it into an action, which is then shared and adoptable by the rest of the community. These small actions snowball over time as the power of good ideas take hold and change happens, proving that ‘anyone can start a social movement’ on The Nag. The Nag is designed to let people be people, combine forces and collaboratively change things for the better.

The Nag was first launched in May 2007 as part of Anti-Apathy - an organisation established by social entrepreneur and serial problem-solver Cyndi Rhoades to promote new and creative approaches to engaging audiences in social and environmental issues. In 2008 The Nag won the ‘Yahoo! Finds of the Year’ award for best ethical web site. The earlier version of the site encouraged ‘world-saving made simple’, asking users to take one action a month to the make the world a better place.

This time around, however, the model has been turned on its head.

Cyndi Rhoades explains: “The engine underneath The Nag is crowd power problem-solving. The new Nag is no longer a platform that gives top-down messages from official experts who say you must do this or that to have more sustainable communities. People are fed up with the endless lists of ‘10 things to do’. We’ve turned this model upside down and given the voice back to the grassroots. The people are now the experts collectively. Their local knowledge, personal experience and general know how is what drives the solutions and actions.”

She added: “The power of online generated crowd power is a force to be reckoned with. We are seeing examples everyday - from flash mobs in Iran to the rapid mobilisation of grieving fans following Michael Jackson’s death. The ability of large groups with common interests to quickly self-organise at low or no cost, assemble and take action is a game changer. The Holy Grail for us is to take these forces and get people to act and engage in social and environmental issues on a grand scale.”

Jamie Burdett, strategic director at Anti-Apathy, said:

“Most people see the big issues we face – climate change, poverty, global inequity – as too far out of reach to make any meaningful contribution. But perhaps we might make a difference if we took individual actions and ideas as seeds for large scale, organic and self-organised group action using a platform like The Nag.”