It’s definitely an uprising. So far the revolution is in the minds of Iran’s inspired reformers and in social media, put to amazing new use. Given the strength of the two, the revolution may well become fact.
Iranian officials appeared to be ready, after uprisings elsewhere have been organized by phone texting. Phone text messages were blocked as election “official results” began to be announced. They were not so prepared for twitter and facebook and the many modes by which users connect to the online world. Twitter use was not so effectively shut down.
As a news junkie who rarely turns on the TV, when I began to see reports of protests in Iran on twitter I did what I have done to see breaking news for most of my life. I turned on CNN. To my surprise CNN was not covering Iran. Not on CNNHN either. After past experiences with CNN wall-to-wall coverage, Like when John-John’s plane went down, I was prepared for excruciatingly repetitive coverage. Instead I got entirely forgettable old news.
New to twitter as I was, I had the good fortune to be following a few bloggers and reporters, and through their tweets became aware of increasing intensity in Iran’s protests. Before long I was additionally following their sources, provided in attributions as (RT) “retweets.” Soon I was following people on the ground, observing and participating in the protests.
I even became an unwitting participant in the uprising if only for a moment. I followed one link that implored followers to shut down Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s website. The link led me to a proxy server that attempted to refresh Khamenei’s site every 1 seconds, which would in effect create a denial of service attack when multiple users follow the link.
It was exciting to think of myself as being involved, but realized that there is too much that I don’t know about Iran and the current situation (though I have strong sympathies) to be an active participant from half a world away. I closed my browser window and left it to true stakeholders to decide if blocking the site was a wise move.
In all, it was a heady experience to be following real events in Iran even while our mainstream media outlets were virtually silent. By 2 a.m. when I needed sleep, I was still keyed up to go to bed.
A couple of weeks ago I was still asking what twitter is for. Today I have a feeling it could — and may already have — change the world.
Sphere: Related Content