Do you know what it takes to help a small business get exposure on social media? A single click of a mouse. Do you know what it takes to help an aspiring writer get valued feedback and endorsements on his portfolio page? A single click of a mouse.

I am one of those people who will go out of my way to help someone get some much needed exposure or public recognition. My Facebook friends know that I will “like” their business or event page and my Twitter followers know that I will share a tweet that is important to them.

Why do I do it? For one thing, it takes almost no effort to help someone out on the Internet. I make my living on the Internet and if I could just get one click from every person I am connected to, I would be making a really great living right now. The other reason I do it is that I hope that the favor is returned, just once. The problem is, the favor is rarely returned.

Has everything in our society deteriorated so much that even a single mouse click is too much to ask from people? I will admit that sometimes people abuse the mouse click and use it for unsavory purposes. For example, those little kids on Facebook who are pictured with signs that say “Our dad will take us to Disney World if we get 100,000 likes.” Really? Your dad won’t take you to Disney World unless 100,000 strangers give you mouse clicks? Whenever I see those pictures, I just want to call child protective services. What’s next? A picture with a sign that says “Our dad will let us eat dinner if we get 5,000 likes?”

Then there are the people on Facebook who understand how to motivate people to give up those precious mouse clicks. I will always remember the guy who started the Facebook page with the title “My sister will name her baby Megatron if I get 1,000,000 likes.” It wasn’t until the page got well over 1,000,000 likes and the baby was not named Megatron that people realized it was a hoax.

People will give up mouse clicks to ruin a child’s life with a name that is both cool and cruel at the same time, but they won’t give up a mouse click to help a friend or business who really needs it. I never realized this before, but the Internet has really trivialized our society. Everything that should be completely unimportant has suddenly taken center stage, and the things that really need our attention go by the wayside.

For example, the Internet has been infatuated with finding that Malaysian plane for weeks. People have been pointing out debris in the ocean in pictures that are readily available on the Internet, but none of the debris has been from the plane. Isn’t anyone concerned about the fact that there is so much ocean debris that we can see it from space using satellites? I feel for those people and I hope for a miracle, but we seem to have a much bigger problem with the condition of our oceans.

The Internet can be used to put people like Kim Jong-Un in their place, and it can be used to make Honey Boo Boo a superstar. But what about taking time to help out the people who are trying to use the Internet for something worthwhile?

The next time someone asks you for a harmless mouse click to further their important cause, take the second or two and give up the mouse click. You have already plastered your personal information all over the Internet, so another mouse click isn’t going to hurt anything. As a matter of fact, mouse clicks can be very important to people who are trying to bring attention to real causes that we should all be aware of.

I love Internet memes. I use them all the time. But I would love to see people take as much time to help each other out with an occasional mouse click as they do to putting words to the latest Patrick Stewart picture.

It takes just one mouse click to do so much good for a person who needs it. Clicking “like” on someone’s new picture of their baby or liking a company’s business page could mean the world to them. Take the time to help out and find out just how powerful the Internet can really be.

Nick Oliver is a Niagara County resident and Internet clicker. His column appears every Wednesday, and you should “like” it. He can be reached at nickoliver@writeme.com.

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