By David All

This week’s remarkably successful online protest against two anti-piracy bills before Congress is a classic example of the 1-9-90 principle at work, and it demonstrates why we at the David All Group preach that principle to brands.

In this case, the 1 percent were “The Internet” — companies like Craigslist, Facebook, Google, Mozilla, Reddit and Wikipedia. They took a high-profile stand against the anti-piracy bills SOPA and PIPA and by doing so empowered the 9 percent to amplify that voice of protest. In many cases, the websites participating in the protest had tools to make it easy to call Congress or reach lawmakers directly via social media.

Everyone else online was the 90 percent — those who first heard of SOPA and PIPA this week, wondered about the issue behind the online fuss and learned about it from the leadership of the 1 percent and the activism of the 9 percent. Before the protest was over, many people in the 90 percent had joined the 9 percent of activists defending the Internet as a brand that represents free speech and innovation.

The 1-9-90 principle worked so effectively that several members of Congress, including a few who previously had supported the anti-piracy bills, felt compelled to publicly voice their opposition to the legislation on Twitter. Now the SOPA and PIPA appear to be dead.

David All is chief creative officer at the David All Group and loves Teh Internetz.