It’s been a while, but I remember how revolutionary it felt reading the results of the OJ Simpson trial over an IRC channel in 1995. Now, over a decade later, a similar torrent of massive proportions is happening over a brand new medium, a new subset of the Internet: Twitter.
In case you’ve been in a media vacuum: In Iran, many claim that the results of the June 12th election are invalid and that the election was rigged. The reaction has been described in the same terms as the 1979 revolution that shaped the current Iranian government.
I’m not here to play pundit on the situation, but rather comment about how Twitter has provided more information than traditional news media.
According to numerous credentialed and informal sources, foreign media cannot report directly on the ongoing situation in Iran. In the past, combating this media blackout would involve a few select individuals with sneaky access to the outside world. Regardless, it would still be limited and slow to flow.
Today is different. Thanks to Twitter (and to a smaller degree Facebook) the information has been pouring out. Of the trending topics on Twitter, three involve Iran’s situation and the updates are quick to come. Indeed, #iranelection ranks as one of the longest trending topics since they started listing them. Updates from specific people are quickly retweeted and sent along the Twittersphere. Traditional media monitors and at times reports these snippets of information. Indeed, CNN outright states, “CNN is also extensively monitoring social networks as an integral part of its reporting on the situation in Iran.”
There’s an important point or two to make here.
Iran is a fairly shuttered nation. Similarly, so is China. Regardless of their powerful ability to stymie using fear and technology, information leaks out. Media outlets now use Twitter-based information. So, if governments like those of China and Iran can’t stop the Twitter revolution, what makes you think that your company can?
There are quite a few businesses out there that think they can or should just ignore Twitter. If these new stories are any indication, you should now realize that you should pay Twitter as much as any other media.