But for the last 4 years the victor has seemed almost pre-ordained, as each Noel found the winner of that year’s  “X-Factor” show sitting atop the heap. And up until a few weeks ago, this year’s winner, Joe McElderry, must have been feeling pretty good about his chances to repeat the cycle.

But a funny thing happened on the way to the quorum…

Jon Morter is a part-time DJ and rock fan from Essex. In 2008, on a whim, he tried to gather online support to make Rick Astley’s “Never Gonna Give You Up” that year’s Christmas #1. He failed, but was intrigued enough by the response he got to try again this year – opting this time, to promote Rage Against the Machine’s expletive-filled 1992 track “Killing in the Name.”

His plan? A coordinated social media effort to generate an extreme uptick in sales during the one week it would matter.

Jon started a Facebook group dedicated to his cause and quickly started to see the power of a motivated ”brand community.” The group grew exponentially – in both awareness and support – simply by nature of the message (and the media). Then on December 15^th, successful comedian Peter Serafinowicz rallied his more than 268,000 Twitter followers to act. With Peter’s goose, Morter’s no-budget awareness effort snowballed into a popular campaign that eventually gathered the support of thousands of fans, former X-Factor winners and even Sir Paul McCartney.

When the smoke cleared, more than 500,000 copies of a 17-year-old song were sold over the course of a single week – and “Killing in the Name” was the new Christmas #1. Rage Against the Machine, the unknowing benefactors of the achievement, even pledged to give all profits from their single to charity.

Does this mean that Social Media is always going to be more effective than the traditional marketing machine that drives “X-factor?”

Of course not. Morter’s campaign played off a brand built via traditional media, and no doubt was juiced by many mentions in the traditional media.

Yet this story does highlight the communication power of the exponential networks of friends and followers to which almost all of us are now attached.

Harness the power of social media. Register for your free presentation today and find out how you can use social media to build your brand and business.

So will there be any fallout?

Media Logic’s Z&C Poll, first posted on the 15th, shows there might not be much. Nearly three-quarters of respondents (73%) said any controversy would soon be forgotten. And curiously, nearly as many people who said the story wouldn’t be forgotten thought it was as likely to help the brand as hurt it.

The breakdown by sex is somewhat more interesting.

Way fewer women than men thought the whole thing would blow over. 67% versus 79%. Yet within those groups, as many of the remaining voters thought the story would help the brand as hurt it.

What’s the bottom line? A week and a day or two in, #pepsifail is still popping up once every hour or so on Twitter. By comparison, #balloonboy is popping up once every second. Pepsi apologized but did not pull its app. Perhaps brands, aware of the cynicism and short attention spans of the online audience, are learning not to panic when faced with bad PR. Perhaps Pepsi escaped only because our attention was diverted.