Despite launching nine months ago, and with the clout of mega brands like Marks & Spencer, IBM, Virgin Money and British Gas, sustainability campaign Start Today did not make the impact anticipated in its ‘One Day’ event yesterday.

Social injustice now faces another formidable foe as the Salvation Army, award-winning mobile marketers DIDMO and GetJar, the world’s largest open app store, have joined forces to inform, educate and engage a global audience about social issues facing teens and young adults.

A new game – one that allows players to take control of the destiny of an online environment – has launched, which has a direct and positive benefit to the real world. Trash Tycoon, a green-themed game for Facebook from social gaming startup Guerillapps, lets users manage and upcycle a town’s waste, while raising money for real-world projects that reduce carbon emissions.

Once upon a time, charities looking to raise colossal sums of money quickly would turn to fundraising kingpins like Elton John or Bob Geldof, who would round up their rich and famous musical pals and encourage the general populous to congregate in a city park, get drunk and wave at the cameras beaming the event live into millions of homes around the country. But what about now?

If a tree falls in the forest and there’s no-one around to hear it, does it make a sound? Indeed, does it make any tangible difference to the way we lead our lives? Not really. What about the announcement of hugely ambitious environmental targets by a multi-billion dollar corporation? If there’s no-one around to hear that, does it make any difference to, well… anything?

As the drought situation in the Horn of Africa escalates, humanitarian agencies are desperate for financial aid. They’ve got the social media tools, but are they using them effectively?

Greenpeace is up against the bad boys again, this time with the help of an online campaign that, in a break from the past, is mysterious and stealthy. For now.

Despite the recent sale of Myspace for a relatively meager $35 million and LinkedIn’s rocky ride so far on the stock market, search engine giant Google has decided it wants a piece of the lucrative social networking pie, and last week launched Google+. Oh, it’s also made a big green announcement that’s gotten lost in all the geeky plus-buzz.

Two weeks ago, Google told us that the most-watched-ever advert to hit YouTube is Volkswagen’s “The Force,” a spot released six months ago during the Super Bowl. In another sign of its impressive social media savvy, Greenpeace is using the popularity of that advert against VW this week with a spoof of “The Force” that calls into question the German car-maker’s green credentials and commitment to a low-carbon future.

Of all the lofty life-changing objectives set out in the UN Millenium Goals, bringing clean water to the world’s poor is the most achievable. It would take a surprisingly small(ish) investment in aid and new infrastructure to eradicate waterborne diseases and pump fresh drinking water to villages. How much of an investment? The NGO charity:water estimates just $20 a day from each of us. It’s just the kind of achievable do-good message suitable for a social media awareness campaign.