Report: SOPA/PIPA Web Protest Generated More Online Chatter Than Super Bowl

By John Eggerton
( Broadcasting & Cable )
published

The SOPA/PIPA web protest Jan. 18 generated more online discussion than the 2011 Super Bowl, the Oscars, or Oprah's exit from syndication.

That is according to Web tracker General Sentiment in a report on the impact of the pushback on antipiracy legislation that featured Web blackouts -- and variations of brown-outs -- by Google, Mozilla, Wikipedia, Craigslist and many more.

The chatter exceeded all recent events save for the death of Osama Bin Laden and the Wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton.

According to the report, WIkipedia generated over 4.1 million mentions, with volume to the site and its message about a world without free knowledge increasing 75 times.

The most frequently used hashtags on twitter were #wikipediablackout, #StopSOPA and #FactsWithoutWikipedia.

All that activity took its toll on the legislation, which at press time was on life support in the Senate and appeared done for in the House.

John Eggerton
John Eggerton

Contributing editor John Eggerton has been an editor and/or writer on media regulation, legislation and policy for over four decades, including covering the FCC, FTC, Congress, the major media trade associations, and the federal courts. In addition to Multichannel News and Broadcasting + Cable, his work has appeared in Radio World, TV Technology, TV Fax, This Week in Consumer Electronics, Variety and the Encyclopedia Britannica.