It didn’t take the recent revolution in Egypt for CBC to realize nothing rallies the masses these days like social media.

We first felt the impact of Facebook, Twitter, and similar platforms a year ago during voting for our annual Connectors Choice Awards. The number of total votes doubled from the previous year to nearly 2,000.

While social media have continued to surge in the last year, we weren’t expecting another 100-percent swell in votes toward our fourth and latest Connectors Choice Awards. In fact, we were actually anticipating fewer votes, based on a few changes in the voting process.

Foremost, we stated up front that only one vote per email address would be accepted. Stuffing the ballot box had been a problem in the past — there was nothing stopping someone from voting a hundred or more times — and we made it a point to resolve that. To our readers’ credit, most listened: Upon double-checking the final tallies, we only had to delete about 200 illicit ballots.

In addition, we dropped the number of categories from 21 to 19. On top of that, CBC appointed for the first time a national panel of judges to narrow the final ballot to three nominees per category. No longer was the entire universe of local event-planning and networking groups and individuals eligible during the final voting.

So, how’d we end up with 3,672 votes?

Simply put, Facebook makes a difference. The same can be said for those maximum 140 characters that Twitter users are allotted per Tweet.

Nobody realizes this better than three of the top four CCA vote-getters — House of Blues (1,234 votes), Event Source (1,046), and Rock the House Entertainment Group (902). As a Facebook “friend” of each company, I’m well aware of their social media marketing strategies. And good for them. Theirs is a promotional lesson that could benefit every company.

Even the organizations and individuals who have yet to catch up with social media earned their share of votes this year. The lowest winning total of votes was 440 — which is about how many the ENTIRE first Connectors Choice Awards attracted four years ago.

Social media or no social media, CBC’s annual awards competition continues to grow in popularity. But there’s also no denying that the easiest and fastest way to make your point these days is to stick it in your status update.

Turn out the lights, the party’s over.

Dandy Don Meredith — the former Monday Night Football color commentator who passed away in December — would croon that line from the old Willie Nelson song to signal impending defeat.

The passage could certainly apply today to Cleveland’s three major professional sports teams. The average winning percentage of the Indians, Cavaliers, and Browns combined, based on their most recent showings, barely surpasses .300. But because CBC likes to stay positive, and because this is our annual sustainability issue, we’ll instead focus on the benefits of being in the dark.

“Turn out the lights” has become a rally cry at Progressive Field, Quicken Loans Arena, and Browns Stadium. Each of those venues’ tenants is stressing sustainability. The Indians are near the top of their league’s standings in terms of going green. The Cavs are holding their own. And the Browns are making headway.

“While it may sound silly, we tell everybody to turn off the lights,” Brad Mohr, the assistant director of ballpark operations for the Indians, says. “We haven’t told anybody, but we’ve also adjusted the thermostat — two degrees cooler in the winter and two degrees warmer in the summer.”

In turn, the Indians’ electricity bill is “way, way down,” Mohr says, and “we’ve been setting monthly records for the last three years.” On average, the team has used 23 million kilowatt hours per year. But in 2010 the figure topped out at little more than 17 million kilowatts.

Behavioral change is key, Mohr says. So is support from the team’s front office and the league office. The Seattle and St. Louis organizations are MLB leaders, Mohr says, but then again, the Mariners VP of operations has a $6 million sustainability budget.

The Browns’ “green team” doesn’t have a million-dollar budget or, like the Philadelphia Eagles, a team webpage dedicated to green initiatives. “This just started in our department … and we haven’t really gotten the support yet of most of senior management,” Mike Good, the organization’s coordinator of stadium relations says. “And it’s definitely not something our fans are calling for on game day.”

The Cavs’ sustainability team — “We try to stay away from the word ‘green,’” Jessica Jacobson, the director of premium services for arena vendor Aramark, says —  is focused on waste reduction. Last year it composted between 50,000 and 60,000 pounds of food waste. “We’d like to think the many steps we’ve taken at the Q have at least put us on the map nationally,” Jacobson adds.

Speaking of national attention, Mohr says it is more difficult in this era of sustainability to accommodate requests to “light up the city” with Progressive Field’s light towers. The Indians would prefer to save that perk for only the biggest of sporting events downtown. Hopefully, the city’s pro teams will have at least a few of those to ponder in 2011.