Twitter and Iran

There is certainly something unique about Twitter. A month ago, I would have told you that it's clearly changing the way that people communicate with each other. But I wouldn't have guessed that it would become a powerful tool that protesters in Iran and across the world would be using to fight tyranny and injustice.

I would have used a description I've heard elsewhere - that Twitter is like the status update feature on Facebook, without all the other features on Facebook. But as this Time article describes, Twitter is well-suited for the job:

"It's free, highly mobile, very personal and very quick. It's also built to spread, and fast."

And Twitter is broadcast. The messages are publicly viewable, as opposed to private emails, Facebook status updates or messages.

Makes me think of that quote about freedom of the press:

"The basis of our governments being the opinion of the people, the very first object should be to keep that right; and were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter. But I should mean that every man should receive those papers and be capable of reading them."
    --Thomas Jefferson to Edward Carrington, 1787.

Most people refer to the part about choosing between newspapers and government. But read it again, this time with Twitter in mind.

The article on Time.com

Comments

[Sacramento Web Design]

I've found the Guardian to be a good source for info about the situation in Iran, including tweets, youtube video, and photos:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/iran

San Francisco Photographer