The rapidly evolving world of social media is helping young Iranians organize and report purposeful protests in Iran. Even my initial despise of Twitter as a tool for bored people to celebritize themselves is being reversed to respect as I find out how it is providing a voice to supporters of democracy. Because of Twitter's simple engineering, it is easier to integrate and harder to control than any other social networking tool. This means that when the Iranian government (who was ranked 166th out of 169 countries on the 2007 World Press Freedom Index) wants to shut down sites like facebook, myspace and even personal blogs, zealous and defiant citizens have another place to voice their opinion. In a country that has more bloggers per capita than anywhere else, the Iranian government's control of media has ironically spawned a generation quite adept at circumventing cyber roadblocks. This video explains the Twitter/Tehran connection further and this article from Christian Science Monitor also explains technology's role in revolutions while also warning against over-hyping technology. Without the proper strategy it can hurt, not help, a cause.
According to NPR, the largest community of Iranians outside of Iran is in Los Angeles. Tonight I drove past a group of protesters on Wilshire holding signs communicating the Iranian message. I wondered how many cars understood what was being protested. I leave you with a tweet from paralax999:"As Iran awakes I wonder how it is we remain asleep."
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