U.S. permanent representative to the United Nations Samantha Power remembers being very moved while watching footage from the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests when she was in college.
"That really got into my head," Power said on stage on Sunday at the Social Good Summit in conversation with Mashable CEO Pete Cashmore. "I thought, 'Wow, look at those citizens, what they're doing for their families and their futures."
See also: How to Follow Social Good Summit Online
In her first public speech since becoming Ambassador, Power articulated why the global crackdown on civil society presents such a potentially devastating threat.
Governments, Power explains, are becoming more sophisticated at shutting down the Internet, which is of great concern to the health of civil societies around the planet.
"More and more, people are trying to seek out connections. What I'm getting at in particular are inconvenient topics — ones people don't voluntarily seek out because they're depressing. Syria being the latest example," she said. "You can imagine why young people wouldn't want to spend a lot of time watching videos of kids who have been gassed by chemical weapons."
New technologies can overcome these government shut downs, Power notes. In Syria, activists have created a tool that optimizes the power of text messaging to protect civilians from Scud missiles. After a missile is launched, there is roughly eight minutes before it lands. People who witness the launches now text their whereabouts to a central hub that transfers warning messages to those in the at risk area.
Another service Power points to is the Indian website I Paid a Bribe, where civilians recount the human indignity experienced when they have to pay a bribe. A second section has been added called "I Did Not Pay a Bribe," where people share times they resisted pressure from authority to pay bribes.
These efforts are crucial, Power says, because civil society has directed the eyes of authority toward atrocities in the past.
"Citizens have the ability to put an issue on the map, as they did with Darfur," she says. "In the old days you'd have to stage a press conference. Now the bar is so much lower."
When it comes to the power of media, Power believes all forms of old and new media are relevant ways to create change. Social media has its limitations and its advantages, she says.
"Technology is not the only problem and it's not the only solution."

The Social Good Summit is where big ideas meet new media to create innovative solutions and is brought to you by Mashable, The 92nd Street Y, The United Nations Foundation, The United Nations Development Programme, The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and Ericsson. Held during U.N. Week, the Social Good Summit unites a dynamic community of global leaders to discuss a big idea: the power of innovative thinking and technology to solve our greatest challenges.
Date: Sept. 22 through Sept. 24 Time: 12 to 6 p.m. each day Location: 92nd Street Y, 1395 Lexington Ave., New York, N.Y. Tickets are sold-out, but tune into the Livestream.
BONUS: 10 Empowering Apps for Social Good
Gone are the days of daring your friends without consequences. When you challenge your friends to Budge, the person who loses the challenge needs to donate an agreed upon amount to a charity of the winner's choosing.
Available on iOS.
Charity Miles lets you raise money for your favorite causes while walking, running or biking. The app's corporate sponsors donate 25 cents for each mile you walk or run, and 10 cents for each mile you bike.
Charity Miles is available for iOS and Android.
With every photo you share, Johnson & Johnson donates $1 to a cause of your choosing. The Donate a Photo app, available on iOS and Android, also lets you follow your friends' photos, so you can keep up with your social life.
Great for foodies, photographers and humanitarians, this iOS app adds a great cause to your foodstagrams. When you dine and snap a food shot at one of the participating restaurants -- which, for now, are only in New York -- a meal is donated to a non-profit feeding schoolchildren in South Africa.
In this free iOS game, you'll travel with Maya, an Indian girl, as she navigates the slums in search of clean water. The longer it takes her to find water, the more school she misses.
The game was created in partnership with charity: water, which lends in-game missions and video scenes to the app.
Did you know that with the money you save cooking three of your own meals, you could fund someone's HIV medicine for three months? Instead is an iOS app that shows you how much you can save with simple tweaks in your lifestyle. Once you make those cheaper decisions, Instead encourages you to donate to a non-profit out of your savings.
My Life as a Refugee is an app for iOS and Android created by the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). It lets anyone around the world experience life fleeing from conflict or persecution. Through beautiful illustrations, you'll read the stories of the app's many characters, who have been separated from their loved ones and have experienced hardships.
The Recyclebank app, available for iOS and Android, rewards you for recycling. The gamification of recycling awards points that you can redeem in stores and in the app.
Forget daily deal apps -- there are apps that give back while giving you a great deal. TangoTab, available for iOS and Android, donates meals to food banks every time a diner purchases one of its restaurant deals.
Eager for a new volunteer program? This iOS app brings the online volunteer network onto your smartphone. It has a sleek interface that will help you find great opportunities to give back near you.
VolunteerMatch lets you select which skill you're looking to use to volunteer, so you can lend your expert web design or managerial skills, for example.
Image: Mashable, Casey Kelbaugh