Live From Iran, One Tweet at a Time

categories: Millennial Generation, Society, Technology

Published June 15, 2009 @ 08:36AM PT

Like the Gaza war a few months ago, a fascinating story brimming underneath the upheaval in Iran is the use of Twitter to communicate internally and with the outside world. From Andrew Sullivan:

Mock not. As the regime shut down other forms of communication, Twitter survived. With some remarkable results. Those rooftop chants that were becoming deafening in Tehran? A few hours ago, this concept of resistance was spread by a twitter message. Here's the Twitter from a Moussavi supporter:

ALL internet & mobile networks are cut. We ask everyone in Tehran to go onto their rooftops and shout ALAHO AKBAR in protest #IranElection

For Sullivan, this is a story about freedom. It is about a technology that connects a young generation's desire to grow up outside the bounds of tyranny with the unyielding churn of information to free itself from repression. He writes: "This generation will not bypass existing institutions and methods: look at the record turnout in Iran and the massive mobilization of the young and minority vote in the US. But they will use technology to displace old modes and orders."

Mashable has another side to the story; the power of new forms of real-time, user-generated media to tell a different story - perhaps sometimes a more accurate or representative story - than editorial boards of vetted media institutions.

In a post called "#CNNFail: Twitter Blasts CNN Over Iran Election," Mashable's Pete Cashmere writes about the viral spread of the #cnnfail hashtag, which is being used to represent frustration with CNN's incredible lack of coverage around the protests over the weekend. While it's unlikely that CNN's increased coverage is directly do to their Twitter shamming, it's hard not to recognize how powerful it is to be able to aggregate an alternative voice, particularly one that can so dramatically amplify those speaking from the center of the storm.

For this blog, there is something deeply entrepreneurial about the whole story. Not in the sense of using market mechanisms to achieve something, but in the hunger for newness, the incredible willingness to risk for something better, and the incredible way available resources are tapped to advance a goal.

The Twazzup conversation aggregator platform is being used particularly effectively to put conversation about the elections and protests all in one place. Using a variety of different hashtags and linking out to other key media sources, it's a one stop shop for ground level perspective on things.

The question, in the long run, is what this new powerful technology allows them (whoever 'they' are next) to do to create a better future. Perhaps just as much though, it's if and how 'we' choose to hear them and to respond.

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Comments (11)

Who owns CNN?? Thank God for the internet and Twitter..

Posted by leatrice brantley on 06/15/2009 @ 01:47PM PT
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Amen to what Leatrice wrote!

Posted by S B on 06/15/2009 @ 01:53PM PT
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Daily Photos From Tehran eyes on protest 24 hours with pictures and videos

http://tehranlive.org/

Posted by Camillo Di Cicco on 06/15/2009 @ 04:06PM PT
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I look at the protests in Iran, and also those in Europe, and wonder: Would they possible in the land of the free and the home of the brave?

I look at the Iranian police. Then look at ours. There's no comparison. Ours make Darth Vader look like a pussy. Our police could squelch the kind of demonstrations we see elsewhere. They'd gas the demonstrators, take them down, put their knees in their backs, and beat on their skulls until they bled.

I note that the difference between American culture and European culture in particular has been shaped to a large extent by World War II. America did not suffer WWII like Europe. Its cities were not leveled as those in Europe were.

To this day, Europeans remain more suspicious of police power than Americans. They are revolted by the sight of police pummeling protesters. On the other hand, many Americans like nothing more.

Posted by Martin Bring on 06/15/2009 @ 05:41PM PT
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ALAHO AKBAR!.... Great story. Here is the new world.
Isn't it amazing how they counted all those millions of PAPER ballots in only minutes!!

Posted by Lee Dorsey on 06/15/2009 @ 09:43PM PT
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You might be interested in the following posts on my blog:

- Who is on Twitter in Iran: http://www.theroadtothehorizon.org/2009/06/who-is-on-twitter-from-iran.html

- #CNNfail: broadcasting their defense http://www.theroadtothehorizon.org/2009/06/cnnfail-cnn-versus-twitter-on-iran.html

- Social media in Iran overview: http://www.theroadtothehorizon.org/2009/06/social-media-buzzing-after-iran.html

Peter

Posted by Peter Casier on 06/16/2009 @ 12:44AM PT
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Here are some inspiring videos prepared by young people recently to encourage nonviolent action and people power in Iran. Feel free to pass them along.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FsTmQH2grgs&feature=channel_page
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1QO1Tj4w3-0&feature=channel_page

Posted by michael beer on 06/16/2009 @ 09:50AM PT
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Not directly related but anyone reading Nathaniel's post may be able to fwd the following resources to those affected by this madness:
How To Circumvent Internet Proxy will help those who are facing restricted access (avail in several languages): http://www.howcast.com/videos/90601-How-To-Circumvent-an-Internet-Proxy?ref=as

How to communicate securely in repressive environments: http://irevolution.wordpress.com/2009/06/15/digital-security/

Protection manual for human rights defenders: http://www.protectionline.org/spip.php?article186

Posted by Stephanie Rudat on 06/16/2009 @ 12:30PM PT
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That's the beauty of the new technology. There is so much potential to bypass the corporate media, all forces of repression (including this one), and build genuine communication and resistance. Whatever we can do to support the resistance in Iran should be done. But we shouldn't stop there... Rev. Bookburn - Radio Volta

Posted by Rev Bookburn on 06/16/2009 @ 04:44PM PT
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While I find it disheartening to see this election being stolen from the Iranian people, it is on the hand inspiring to see Iranian's standing up for their rights and showing the world they do not support their President's radical ideology. And even more interesting to see them utilizing technology in order to circumvent the totalitarianism of their government, to help them organize protests and show the world what is happening in their country.

This further reinforces the fact that the Iranian people, in general, are not hateful anti-American barbarians as ring-wing conservatives will have you believe. They are mostly everyday people like you and I, who want nothing more than peace and change in their society.

Posted by Alan Haggard on 06/16/2009 @ 09:25PM PT
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Civil Disobedience-National Strike - “First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, then you win. Mahatma Gandhi.”

Posted by Camillo Di Cicco on 06/22/2009 @ 03:03PM PT
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Nathaniel is the founding Director of the Center for Global Engagement at Northwestern University, which works annually with hundreds of students in dozens of countries around the world through curricular programs and student project incubation.