Twitter and the Iran Election

Thursday, June 18th, 2009

People who think Twitter is nothing but complete uselessness should consider the way it’s being used in and outside of Iran with regards to the recent Iran election. Where mass media can barely get a finger hold, real people are communicating directly with each other and spreading news incredibly fast. Mass protests have been organized, in part, through Twitter. The Iran government is trying to suppress the stream by turning off SMS, destroying computers, and shutting down or blocking IPs, but so far hasn’t been very successful. People from around the world are creating new IPs and APIs as fast as they can be blocked and sharing them with protesters in Iran.

Yes, Twitter can be a tool of extreme banality, but it can also allow real people to be heard and helped where mainstream media has been blocked.

• Follow the #IranElection hashtag conversation here.
• If you don’t care, here’s why you should.
• Here a few small things you can do (and some things you shouldn’t do) to help.
• If wading through tweets and retweets isn’t your thing, The Huffington Post has a live blog following the events in Iran.