Well, I think the key was that nearly every online action we did had key political actors as its target. Members of Congress were getting emails, their phonelines were ringing off the hook, and actual voters in their districts were pestering their staff for in-person meetings. And meanwhile Reddit was raising money for opposing candidates, and fielding challengers. So, we were entering their world in a big way. That combined with the open ended threat of the biggest websites in the world turning even more voters against them in an election year was what tipped it.

To sum up, I think online protests will get better at finding specific targets (e.g. politicians), finding their buttons (e.g. constituent opposition, money), and organizing people to hammer on those buttons. As that happens, many of them will really work-- and that will give online protests credibility.