Here is yet another example of how Facebook is changing the face of political activism around the world, puting more and more power into the hands of young people who are seeking to change the world.

Vanessa Sievers is a 20 year old student at Dartmouth College. This Summer, instead of taking a part-time job as waitress or barista, she decided to do something a little more ambitious. She decided to run for treasurer of Grafton County, New Hampshire against 68 year old Republican incumbent Carol Elliot. She didn't have any money to compete or make slick ads in the mainstream media, instead putting a measly $51 into Facebook ads and organizing on the site.

And she won.

Ms. Sievers beat Ms. Elliott by 586 votes out of about 42,000 cast, and won big in Hanover, home to Dartmouth, and Plymouth, home to both Ms. Elliott and Plymouth State University.

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Ms. Sievers, a geography and history major from Montana, decided to run after the county registrar of deeds, Bill Sharp, approached the Dartmouth College Democrats.

“I said this will be a nice part-time position for one of your people, and we’re going to need the college kids to turn out for the election,” Mr. Sharp said.

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Ms. Sievers, now a New Hampshire resident, said she has worked as a bookkeeper and served on the school board in Livingston, Mont., while a student there.

“I have always been interested in finance and involved in politics, which are the reasons why I decided to run,” she said.

The current county treasurer, Carol Elliott, 68, called Ms. Sievers, 20, a “teenybopper” in an interview with a local newspaper, The Valley News, and said she had won only because “brainwashed college kids” had voted for the Democratic ticket.

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“I took advantage of new media, and she did not,” Ms. Sievers said. The county Republican chairman, Ludlow Flower, however, does not think that new media or college students belong in a county race.

“College students are not involved in local things at all,” Mr. Flower said. “They’re only involved in Dartmouth College. They don’t buy property here, they don’t pay taxes here, so they’re not concerned with how the treasury is handled.”