Facebook is in crisis mode. The teacher strikes show it can still serve a civic purpose.

If there’s ever a moment to capture the existential crisis at Facebook, it was these past couple of weeks. But while Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg was confronted by members of Congress with his company’s failures, more than 30,000 Oklahoma teachers were rallying at the state Capitol to demand better pay and funding for their state’s struggling schools. It was the teachers’ eighth day on strike. And one of the notable things about the strike is how reliant it has been on Facebook as an organizing tool — a fact that’s true for the teachers strikes in other states. With Facebook’s public approval at an all-time low, public school teachers are among the few who see the social network’s potential as a catalyst for meaningful change. They credit the platform for helping launch one of the most significant grassroots labor movements in recent years. Similar Facebook groups have recently helped people who have common cause find each other.