Too often the discussion around social media centres on the terrible damage it can have on young users, in particular.

We read about cyber bullies who use social media to continue their harassment of their victims from the schoolyard each day into their bedrooms at night.

We read about the sick minds posing as teenagers on social media to groom young children for sex.

And we read about the radicalisation of vulnerable young people who are fed an online diet of lies and conspiracies as they sit alone – and lonely – at home.

But social media was never intended to be so anti-social and, at its best, it doesn’t need to be.

A case in point is this week’s decision by Bathurst Regional Council to rename the Bathurst Aquatic Centre to honour former pool superintendent John Manning and his wife, Nina.

Mr Manning was superintendent at the pool for 32 years from 1964 but, under his watch, the job was a family affair.

Mrs Manning was also heavily involved in the day-to-day operations of the pool – as were their kids, according to a report to council – and so the Manning name became synonymous with the facility.

Shortly after Mr Manning’s death in September at age 90, Bathurst man Matt Irvine started an online petition calling for the pool to be renamed to honour the Mannings.

The petition struck a chord and by the time councillors discussed the proposal on Wednesday night, more than 1200 people had signed up to show their support.

Councillors finally approved the name change [though only after a protracted debate about what the new name should actually be, which included perhaps the first ever reference to search engine optimisation in a Bathurst Regional Council debate] and it’s sure to be a popular decision.

And that is what social media should be – a way of building communities rather than tearing them apart.

Social media means that information can be transmitted far more quickly today than at any other time in history, and as part of two-way conversation.

That is a powerful tool, and that power is yet to be fully understood.

The challenge for all of us, though, is to ensure that power is used more for good than bad – and starting in our own homes and in our own lives.