I’ve been following the election debacle in Iran closely via twitter. During this six minute video chronicling the protests I discovered on the SOCIAL MEDIA platform called YouTube, I noticed a recurring image => cell phones. Out of the dozen or so cell phone images in the video only 1 person was using it as a telephone, all others were using it as a video-camera or a text messaging device. Like it or not, twitter and all other social media platforms that provide Internet access to a mobile device is an EVOLUTIONARY game changer. Repressive regimes will no longer find it easy to manipulate and control information dissemination. To allay any arguments that may arise from social media naysayers, please take a look at the news articles below.
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‘Twitter war’ proves kilobyte is stronger than the megaton
“Twitter is most suited to a psychological information war, and right now in Iran there is a war over information,” …“This is the first Twitter war.”
“On the one hand, you’ve got Ahmadinejad’s regime striving to manipulate and hide information, and to create an information monopoly. But unfortunately for them, this can no longer be done because of the democracy of the new media,”
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Social Networks Spread Defiance Online
“Many Twitter users have been sharing ways to evade government snooping, such as programming their Web browsers to contact a proxy — or an Internet server that relays their connection through another country. “
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Iranian media crackdown prompts Tweets and blogs
“ Tiananmen + Twitter = Tehran, highlighting both the similarity between events twenty years ago in China’s Tiananmen Square and in Tehran today and the difference that the Internet has made in how the Tehran events have unfolded. “
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Follow Iran protests … on Twitter | CharlotteObserver.com
“The Iranian government reportedly has blocked opponents of President Ahmadinejad from sending emails, but they are being outwitted by another form of technology — Twitter. ”
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There are reports that the Iranian government chided the U.S. Government for meddling, however I’ve seen little to no action from our president. The meddling is coming from the global twitter community. Repressive regimes be warned. Tweeters are watching and chronicling.
Wasn’t it Thomas Paine who said something like, “A mind expanded by a new idea can never go back to its original size.” I contend that a world connected by social media will never be the same.
