The success of the “Rage Against the X Factor” campaign to stop X-Factor winner Joe McElderry grabbing the Christmas number one pop single spot, is more evidence of social media’s effectiveness in getting a message across.

Set up a Facebook group and give people a good reason for joining in – in this case the desire to stuff the annoying Simon Cowell in his onward march to world domination – and you can have a mass movement on your hands. It wasn’t long before the campaign had spread to other social networking sites like Twitter, MySpace, and Bebo. The final push is said to have come from Twitter, where comedian Peter Serafinowicz told his quarter million followers to buy the single.

A lesson for businesses is that, to work well, there needs to be a good hook, something that engages the emotions. The message needs to be different and engaging, and ideally have some aim that people can feel they are contributing to. That way, there’s an incentive for them to pass the word on to their friends, and give the campaign maximum exposure.