wikipedia’s sopa/pipa blackout = genius

not only did wikipedia bring the internet information world to its knees with its highly visible & much talked about sopa/pipa blackout (and also freaking out otherwise unaware high schoolers, double bonus…”DUDE WTF IS UP W/ WIKIPEDIA OMG!!????”), but it did so in a way that was true to its brand and reflected its core purpose: it blacked out in protest…but also asked what your zip code was, and served up the names, twitter handles, emails etc of your senators and representatives.  so it was still providing useful information, even in a blackout!

i for one thought this was hugely convenient and pretty genius…i took advantage of it, tweeted one of my senators and my house representative (my other nj senator is not on twitter yet apparently…get with the program senator lautenberg, jeez), and then once i tweeted them, i shared the fact that i had done so on my own twitter wall as well, again using a tweet that wikipedia had already drafted for me:

I just contacted Sen. Robert Menéndez to oppose #SOPA/#PIPA – Join me! http://tinyurl.com/7vq4o8g #wikipediablackout

so wikipedia actually facilitated every step of the process, and made it much easier for me to participate in voicing my outrage, and also provided me with useful info.  now that’s what i call smart social media integration…and apparently very effective, as you can see in wikipedia’s follow-up landing page, pictured below.

so kudos to you wikipedia!  and thanks for freaking out america’s high schoolers! someone had to do it.