In the first of a new fortnightly social media column, digital guru Kenny Murray takes aim at right-on retweets.

Social media has revolutionised the way we engage.

It supposedly democratises human communication in a way that no other tool has allowed before.

It's a gift. A gift that we may not always use in the wisest of ways but at times it really shines.

We've witnessed in our times some real, huge change through the power of social media. Initially, it proved a great way to support already popular causes, and campaigns with hefty marketing budgets employed digital strategists and creatives to measurable success.

More recently, we have seen a surge in interest in a condition not as widely discussed, Motor Neurone Disease. How did this portray itself? Through the medium of people pouring ice cold water over themselves. Everyone from James McAvoy to Alistair Darling got involved.

That isn't always the case with social media, though. As a platform it lends itself to quick bursts of activity across a short time frame, meaning that news tends to go very big for a short period and before disappearing, rarely to be mentioned again. In short, it does the job of making you feel better. You feel like you've supported a worthy cause and then you can forget all about it when it's no longer popular. I like to call this phenomenon populist empathy.

I'm not a cynic. In fact I work in digital for a successful PR agency in Edinburgh; I rely on these platforms doing well to earn a crust. But let's be honest: We can all be guilty of populist empathy.

Don't believe me? Don't take my word for it - here are some illustrative examples.

Remember Joseph Kony? We all got behind this campaign back in 2012 but, I'll be brutally honest with you, I had to Google to remind myself what it was all about. How many reading this would have to do the same? A fair few I would imagine. In fact, using tools provided by Google, we can even illustrate the dwindling interest in this cause.

This was a trend that brought millions to the important cause of Breast Cancer Awareness. Has this internet phenomenon survived the scourge of populist empathy, where causes can be as popular as they like until they serve their purpose?

Nope. After the #NoMakeUpSelfie campaign served its purpose and we all shared that wee glow of giving, it disappeared never to be mentioned again except as a case study by guys like me.

Let's have a look at a more recent campaign. People might even still be interested in it.

The Ice Bucket Challenge was the must-do social media activity of summer 2014. Everyone was getting involved. Even serious politicians all around the world gave into this populist wave of social media empathy. I can hear you already: "Don't be so cynical, Kenny. It's a cause we all care about!"

Do you?

Would you look at that! It seems that even a massive campaign involving celebrities, a movie that featured the disease and a campaign more local to Scotland from the inspirational Gordon Aikman, alongside hilarious videos of our mates pouring buckets of ice-cold water over themselves, didn't make us care past the point of a few retweets.

Perhaps I'm being overly harsh. Maybe, just maybe, the claims from social media optimists, that it increased interest in Motor Neurone Disease as a search term, hold true. Let's have a look.

Now, that graph isn't as flat as the others. People obviously do care about Motor Neurone Disease. But there's no doubt that a huge swathe of interest dropped off after we'd shared a chuckle at celebrity soakings.

I realise that my maiden column makes me sound like a cynical crank. It won't always be like this but it is something we should all be aware of, especially if you want to use digital to support your cause, business or campaign.

Think it through and ask yourself if you can see a way to keep interest going from year to year. If not, take a step back and plan for that - you don't want to be the internet version of Hanson's 'MMMBop': A one-hit social wonder that disappears into the ether.

Kenny Murray is a digital strategist for Edinburgh-based public relations agency Holyrood PR. His specialisms include social media and data analysis. Follow him on Twitter at @kennymurray.