Twitter vs Tehran goes into overtime
For non-Twitterati, here’s the 140-character version of today’s news: They’ve finally found a use for Twitter. Iranians protesting last Friday’s suspiciously heavy 66% vote for President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad have been using it to end-run the state media in Tehran’s largest protests since 1979, the year in which militant students captured and held 52 American hostages for over a year.
You can track the current situation by bookmarking a Twitter search for #IranElection. Twitter’s management earlier today decided to postpone scheduled maintenance tonight in order to keep the lines of communication from Tehran open. (I’m trying not to giggle, but I wonder if Twitter’s IT guys had figured the week after Apple’s developer conference would be a quiet one on the Internet and a good time for downtime.)
For Internet media, this is a telling moment. Thirty years ago, CNN launched in the middle of the Iranian hostage crisis, bringing 24-hour news via cable television — coverage far beyond the stentorian but short nightly broadcasts at CBS, ABC and NBC.
Today, who needs CNN? Every phone is a potential news camera. And after all the yakky-talk among American intellectuals about how citizen journalism would change the world, these guys in Tehran are actually doing it: They’re uploading proof that the government isn’t in control.
As a hub for citizen journalism, Twitter has proved a brilliantly simple business: Instead of trying to host the world’s photos and videos, Twitter simply points to them. No massive data bills, no copyright battles. Even the curating is outsourced: tinker.com/tehran carries a good stream of posts. CNN’s iReport could use more on-the-ground reports, but it’s a good place to get a quick report.
Internet pranksters like me who can’t be in Tehran are doing what we do best: We’re setting our Twitter time zones to Tehran time to confuse the bad guys over there. Does this work? I have no idea, but it’s the most fun I’ve had at this keyboard all day.
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About the Author, Paul Boutin
Paul (paul@venturebeat.com) covers Apple & the iPhone, social networks & social media, digital music & video, and any crazy Internet story. Paul wrote and edited for Valleywag from 2006-2008, after several years with Wired magazine and Slate. He writes regularly for The New York Times' technology section and sometimes for Wired and The Wall Street Journal. He studied computer science at MIT in the early 1980s, and worked as a software developer and network administrator for 15 years before becoming a professional writer. Follow him on Twitter at @paulboutin, and follow VentureBeat on Twitter at @venturebeat.
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