When Yellow Tail wine announced that it would contribute $100,000 to the Humane Society of the United States, it learned just how many farmers and ranchers enjoy a glass of wine — and how many spend time online.

Within 24 hours of the announcement on Jan. 14, hundreds of farmers and ranchers took to the Yellow Tail Facebook page to express their discontent. In fact, the “Yellow Fail” Facebook page now has more than 3,000 fans. In an attempt to control the damage, Yellow Tail later announced that its donation would be targeted to animal rescue efforts only.

Regardless of the industry, it’s an activist tactic to portray an organization as “speaking for the masses.” This pretense is no longer sustainable in a social-media era where individuals are in control. Consumers’ voices can be amplified through cheap and easy means like Twitter, Facebook and blogs. Take this example of a California dairy farmer that uses all these resources to comment on government, non-profit organizations and his own industry.

It doesn’t take a large organization or an in-depth knowledge of HTML to have a voice. Anyone can do it. Activists have little more advantage in the social media sphere than a regular grocery shopper.

What’s more, people that likely have a direct connection with agriculture are finally able to get online in more equal numbers as their urban counterparts. The Pew Research Center shows 70% of rural community members are online, which is nearly even with the 74% of urban Internet users.

Ease and access are changing the online landscape, making it more like the real world and moderating extreme voices on either end. But, take a lesson from Yellow Tail. If you don’t know your audience, you’re going to get feedback — in today’s world the feedback will be from young and old, urban and rural.