Secret societies, the Illuminati, the Masons; hidden cabals of the rich and powerful have long been an obsession of cranks, weirdoes and conspiracy theorists, but recently the veil is being tugged back and the discreet relationships between those occupying high positions in society – both elected and unelected – is being dragged into the public eye like never before. A rash of exposés featuring government ministers and shady Russian business types, often taking place on yachts in exotic locations, have granted a glimpse into a world the likes of which us mere mortals can only dream of.

Channel 4 have latched onto the general zeitgeist of disillusionment with our leaders and have created a new website that explores some the network of relationships between these powerful, yet secretive, individuals and our politicians called ‘Who Knows Who?’. The website forms part of a larger idea that taps into the latest Internet buzzword: crowdsourcing. This hideous portmanteau (since when was an Internet-related portmanteau anything else but hideous?) means that a crowd of people on the Internet come together to achieve a common goal set by a 3rd party. The Guardian put this to very good use during this summer’s expenses furore, putting around 30,000 volunteer editors, recruited from the ranks of Guardian readers, to task sifting through the hundreds of thousands of pages of MPs’ expense claims, in order to find such gems as duck houses and cable TV pornography.

This time, Channel 4 are asking their viewers to contribute any information that they might have about the relationships between politicians, businessmen and women, media figures and religious types, and any other members of the great and the good.

The site is built using Flash, a rich media web technology, which most people will have installed on their browsers, so it has a potentially very large audience. The interface is very snazzy; each figure features in the centre of a large web of links which you can click around, find out how deep the rabbit hole goes (to drop briefly into conspiracy-speak).

I think this site is a very interesting and bold idea that combines contemporary relevance with an exciting and fresh approach to engaging with a new audience. It’s certainly very different from a lot of Channel 4′s recent youth-oriented websites. It’s also fascinating to see the popularity of websites like 38degrees, TheyWorkForYou and UnlockDemocracy, whose aim it is to help us keep tabs on our elected rulers. The Internet as a tool to empower grassroots activism appears to be really coming of age.

Great stuff – I think I am going to tape an X to my window tonight to see what happens!