When I first heard about Twitter I thought it was the dumbest idea ever, basically like a text page to the whole world. I could see a few uses for it, all of them related to chatty teenagers.
Well, I don't think like that anymore.
Twitter has since proven to be the method of choice for getting information out of censored or dangerous situations, the latest example being the thousands of reports coming from Iran via the #Iranelection hash tag. People with no way to get word of their situations out now only need a cell phone and a Twitter account to broadcast their stories instantly to the rest of humanity, 140 characters at a time.
I have been following these tweets on my phone. They come unedited and direct from real people in Iran, caught up in this situation and thinking they've been handed a rigged election. Despite all of the efforts of the Iranian government to clamp down, these individual streams are leaking out, and they add up to a torrent.
The walls are falling down, brought to you by a technological wonder originally invented as a better way to flirt with girls.
1 comment:
Good luck to the good people of Iran. Sort of makes you look at them differently, doesn't it? They're so much like us, just wanting a chance a to live their lives the way they choose. Long live freedom of speech and fair and honest elections. MWildHansen
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