In protest of proposed legislation –the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) in the U.S. House of Representatives, and the PROTECTIP Act (PIPA) in the U.S. Senate- that, if passed, would damage the free and open Internet, companies of all sizes decided to protest yesterday.  For many of these companies it was the first time that a public protest was going to be staged.� Mark Zuckerburg, CEO and Founder of Facebook posted his opposition for the proposed legislation and within just over 3 hours had over 400,000 “likes” on his post.

Wikipedia blacked-out the English version of their site, Google affixed an ugly black censor bar across their logo, Wired, Huffington Post, and many others blacked out content on their sites.  Not only did these sites just show their opposition, they gave their user and fan bases a clear and effective way to express themselves to their local Congressman.

Why do we say it was effective?  By the end of the day Senators including Marco Rubio and John Cornyn removed themselves as co-sponsors of the bill.  SOPA and PIPA have lost many supporters and legislators seem to be at least thinking that some changes may need to be in order.

Business owners, activists and politicians should look at this massive strike and the ways how in just a matter of hours millions of people were reached and called to action.  They should give consideration to the extent of reach and the passionate response from everyone who supported these companies.

This isn’t the first time that the internet and social media has been instrumental in changing the course of how the world turns.  There has been a direct link to a revolution in Tunisia where a heavy-handed ruler was forced to resign and the election of our most recent President of the United States.  That’s right, President Barack Obama had a huge presence on the social media channels.

So can social media be an effective means of growing your business, getting people rallied for your cause, or to even persuade lawmakers to change proposed legislation?   Absolutely!