World Politics: Micro-Blogging Plays Pivotal Role June 24th, 2009
Regina Hopper

Here and at NextGenWeb, we’ve often discussed the powerful role broadband plays in U.S. digital democracy—from electing our President to giving the world access to his speeches.  Now, micro-blogging is playing a pivotal role in the news and opinions swirling around Iran’s election.  According to a recent Wall Street Journal story, even as the Iranian government has stopped or limited the use of social networking sites, Twitter has remained an invaluable resource for protesters and reporters to communicate post-election conflicts.

In fact, the U.S. State Department recently requested that Twitter postpone a scheduled maintenance to ensure the technology was available to protesters, activists, and journalists on the ground in Tehran. Reports out this week make clear that the technology is still under siege, with spammers attacking the micro-blogging site to send false information.  But despite these attempts, CNN and other news outlets continue to tap Twitter to report news from Iran.  Even though information via Twitter is not necessarily confirmed, the micro-blogging site may still be the most reliable and up-to-the-minute communications resource available.

Twitter is sparking a communications revolution and proving this technology has far more depth and breadth than many of us ever considered.  It’s another positive statement underscoring the crucial relationship between Internet technology and free speech around the world.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 24th, 2009 at 3:06 pm and is filed under Benefits of Broadband. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.