Critics of the liberal media have a new technological ally to help them direct their outrage about the journalistic lapses of specific reporters, editors or publications. The service is called act.ly, and it gives Twitter users a way to register their grievances by petition.

Earlier this year, I organized a tweet campaign against CBS News’ Katie Couric for accepting a journalism award while a fellow journalist was harassed and manhandled for attempting to ask her questions. Twitter also played a role in forcing Playboy and Politico to retract stories that fantasized about raping conservative women. Act.ly, whose slogan is “Tweet Change,” has the ability to make such efforts even more effective.

Take last night’s Tweet-4-Truth campaign about ABC’s “Obamercial” for the president’s healthcare plan as an example. The conservative Twitter community could have used act.ly before the show to petition @ABC, @david_weston, @jaketapper and any other relevant ABC-types on Twitter to: make a tough questioner like John Stossel part of the program; invite critics of President Obama’s healthcare policies to participate; and accept advertising from critics of government-run health care.

Conservatives complained loud and long about the special before it aired, but until the Tweet-4-Truth campaign and its #obamercial hashtag for Twitter were announced two days before the show, the online outcry was random and disorganized. With the launch of act.ly this week, conservatives can start building momentum earlier for future campaigns.

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