Iran and social networking sites

The power of comunication technology

The conflicts and manifestations in Iran abated after some weeks of tension. Also, the world could saw during this weeks how violent can be dictatorial regimes when they start to feel threatened by the opposition movement. People around the globe have almost no doubt that the election result was illegally adulterated and that some social layers (mainly middle class and students) are dissatisfied with Mahmoud Ahmadinejad policies. The Iranian economy has suffered a lot with the financial crisis and measures taken by the government haven’t helped at all.

However, to me the best lesson that we can learn of the events is : how powerful communication technology can be. Why ? Because even with all the censure made by the Iran dictatorial government the manifestations and the communication between the opposition haven’t stopped. People comuniccated by websites like Twitter. Darrell West (VP and Director of Governance Studies at the Brookings Institution) perfectly sum up the importance of digital technologies and talks about Dena, an Iranian girl who had her death filmed by a protester in the cell phone and spread for the whole world by Youtube. In Darrell West words :

“Now, political protest has shifted to the Internet. The role of Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter in recent Iranian street demonstrations shows the power of digital technologies. Because of their decentralized nature, these tools empower grass-roots activists and help them bypass government authorities.

Protesters employ cell phones, text messages, mobile cameras, blogs, and social websites to get news out to the rest of the world. One person used his mobile to film the death of Neda, a young woman shot to death by police during a Tehran street rally. That graphic video was posted to YouTube and, within days, had been seen by millions of viewers.”

Also, the importance of the social media and digital media increased after Iran governmet withdrew all visas for journalists, once the only way the world could get information about Iran was by the news released by Iranian people in different social networkin sites. Below there are two videos (very, very good) about this subject.

Finally, with you want know more abot ways to access Iran news via social networking sites, see this handy guide from Mashable, the most prominent blog to cover social media.

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