January 18th 2012 marked a day of solidarity in both online and offline protest against the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and Protect IP Act (PIPA) – and by all measures, it was a success.
Over 75,000 domains participated in the protest, with major sites such as Wikipedia, Reddit, and Craigslist blacking out their content entirely. Google joined the ranks by blacking out their logo, and generating 4.5 million signatures on an anti-SOPA petition made available via a link on its homepage.
San Francisco emerged as an offline hub for anti-SOPA protests yesterday (with NYC and Seattle also participating), as Craigslist founder Craig Newmark and rapper MC Hammer spoke to hundreds about the dangers posed by the bill.
Social Media played a large role in spreading awareness leading up to the event, although it is arguable that the greatest impact occurred on the blackout day itself. Responding to two petitions, the White House stated that Obama will not “support legislation that reduces freedom of expression, increases cyber security risk, or undermines the dynamic, innovative global Internet.” The folks over at Twitter announced that over 2.4 million SOPA-related tweets between 12am and 4pm EST. Even Rupert Murdoch was tweeting away on damage control, “Nonsense argument about danger to Internet. How about Google, others blocking porn, hate speech, etc? Internet hurt?”
Coverage was rapidly spreading from the smaller blogs to major publications backing the bill itself, such as CNN or the Wall Street Journal. By the end of the 18th, at least 13 new Senators announced their opposition to PIPA, five of which used to be co-sponsors of the bill.
The high level of awareness brought on by recent anti-SOPA efforts stands as yet another example of how the Internet enables the distribution of knowledge and ideas at rates and levels of effectiveness unheard of before its time. In an effort to quantify the level of influence the anti-SOPA and anti-PIPA campaigns had on the web, Chitika Insights engaged in a research study measuring overall search interest in SOPA and PIPA.
First, the methodology:
Measuring online search interest requires a careful aggregation of search queries whose intent is focused on the SOPA or PIPA. For example, searching for “SOPA info” on Google or Yahoo! should be indicative of SOPA search interest. This study is composed a sample drawn between the 17th and 19th of January, covering millions of search queries from the US within the extensive Chitika Ad network of domains. If you direct your attention below, the following graph highlights SOPA search interest as a percentage of all search queries:
From a low point on the 17th, where SOPA only turns up in 3 times out of every ten thousand queries, SOPA interest peaks at 7:00pm on the 18th, showing up 37 times out of every ten thousand queries searched. SOPA interest continues at an elevated level shortly after midnight on the 19th, and then quickly declines. This may be due to a decreased level of interest after the publicity storm died down, or perhaps internet users in the US had just gone to bed.
At any rate, what we do know is that the increased interest and awareness of this issue has in fact made a tangible difference: at least 13 senators reversed their position on PIPA, not to mention that the Whitehouse came out against the bills in their current form. This alone justifies that a movement taking place on the web can translate to actual change and impact the direction of society as we know it. Chitika Insights will continue to monitor the growth of the movement against the SOPA and PIPA bills – stay tuned for upcoming reports.
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