The Revolution Will Be..... TWITTERED????

[BlooInBloo]

http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2009/06/the-revolution-will-be-twittered-1.html

"Mock not. As the regime shut down other forms of communication, Twitter survived. With some remarkable results. Those rooftop chants that were becoming deafening in Tehran? A few hours ago, this concept of resistance was spread by a twitter message. Here's the Twitter from Moussavi's site:

ALL internet & mobile networks are cut. We ask everyone in Tehran to go onto their rooftops and shout ALAHO AKBAR in protest #IranElection"



Moussavi's Twitter site: http://twitter.com/mousavi1388/status/2156978753

The response to Moussavi's tweet: http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2009/06/something-is-happening-in-iran-1.html


Liveblogging and public alerts have long been the two primary uses of twitter than I advocated for. Chalk up "revolution" as a third.



EDIT: Wrong link at the top.

[WeDidIt]

1. WOOHOO!!!

Khameini must be shitting a brick about now.

[johnfunk]

24. Aldon Hynes has a far more detailed analysis of the Twitter factor...

... at his blog. Go read!

[FarPoint]

2. I still don't understand Twitter.

This Board makes sense, discussion on an identified subject. Twitter appears loose,fragmented to me. :shrug:

[BlooInBloo]

3. Noted.

[sandnsea]

4. Mohamedreza in Tehran

http://twitter.com/mohamadreza

From his "tweets" you can click on other people and see what they're saying, or follow what everyone is saying through #iranelection.

[BadgerKid]

11. You don't go to the blog, it comes to you.

(As the meme goes, it's just not for Soviet Russia.)

[FarPoint]

19. Maybe I should add it to my mobile phone

and let stuff come to me. Oh, I mean no disrespect to the poor Iranian who was reaching out....I've been pre-occupied with wanting to get this Twitter thing under my belt. I see that the Iranian was an example of things coming to you, right?

[BlooInBloo]

21. I've got a twitter client on my google phone - LOVE it. plenty to read on the bus ride to work.

[FarPoint]

22. Thanks for the update.

I think I need to work at Twitter a bit more to get a feel for it. Like I said before, this Board makes sense.....so I'm off to Twitter too.

[FarPoint]

23. Thanks for the update.

I think I need to work at Twitter a bit more to get a feel for it. Like I said before, this Board makes sense.....so I'm off to Twitter too.

[girl gone mad]

12. It's basically glorified text messaging.

the same thing could have been accomplished any number of other ways, but Twitter is the current media darling.

[FarPoint]

20. I believe I am much more satisfied with this style of communicating.

I like this Boards set-up. I text all the time but to my co-workers, friends and family....Lots of texting actually. I also have broadband on my phone and get on DU now. :hippie:

[dem629]

25. It requires a lobotomy.

[jefferson_dem]

5. LOL! I was about to post this one.

So true. Events over these past 24 hours have done more to dispel the "twitter is only for stupidheads" myth than all else combined.

The video at the link is amazing...INSPIRING!

[aquart]

6. I am foolish and old so someone must tell me....

How does Twitter survive if internet and mobile networks are not working?

My mom is on the phone telling me they're on the rooftops because they're being mowed down on the streets.

[Robb]

7. I was just wondering the same thing

...it's hell getting old. :)

[janx]

9. Where is your mom?

?

[aquart]

18. New York watching Direct TV.

She keeps switching channels looking for news but ain't gettin' any.

[girl gone mad]

13. Twitter was shut down along with other networks.

It may have been unblocked in the last few hours. Twitter doesn't have magical powers to escape government censorship.

[Posteritatis]

16. And governments don't have magical powers to ensure perfect censorship (nt)

[girl gone mad]

17. Iran and China have both proven they can shut down Twitter whenever they want. n/t

[haele]

14. Some Internet and Mobile networks have to be up -

If nothing else, for police, emergency services, and military. Hackers and geeks can probably figure out a way to piggyback a cell signal on a military network and get data out, even if they can't get voice out.
Also, some WiFi hubs are probably still up, and that's probably how the general population are getting through.
As for using Twitter, Iran probably can't yet block any of the SMS gateway portals without messing up some of their own government communications - they probably didn't anticipate the possibility of public SMS communications that didn't use dedicated cellphone numbers.

Haele

[BlooInBloo]

15. According to this guy claiming to be in Tehran, it's still up, just very slow...

Another situation perfect for twitter.

http://www.fivethirtyeight.com/2009/06/statistical-evidence-does-not-prove.html#comment-4959339217757563784

"I'm sitting in my grandparents' house in Tehran right now and I'm hearing mini-explosions, there's helicopters flying around, it smells like smoke, and it took fifteen minutes for this website to load because they've slowed down the internet so much here. On top of that they've basically blocked parts of Iran from the international phone network so I can't even call my mother. 80% of the Iranian people did not enthusiastically turn out in order to re-elect someone who has ruined this country both economically and culturally. The Iranian people know that this election was rigged. How could it have been possible for Mousavi to lose Tabriz when he is from Iranian Azerbaijan and Ahmadinejad has abysmal approval ratings amongst Turkic speaking Iranians? On top of that, I voted in this sham election. Do you know that all votes in Iran are cast on paper and that paper needs to be counted by HAND because you have to write in the code and name of the candidate you are voting for? Mousavi only claimed victory two hours into the vote because his campaign found out that the Interior Ministry was going to go forward and claim that it was extremely likely that Ahmadinejad was going to win, 2 hours into the balloting. You tell me, how do you even count 5.5 million paper ballots only two hours after the polls close? In Tehran it is also policy that the ballot boxes need to be transported to the Interior Ministry before they can even be opened, subtracting even more time from the 2 hours. Facebook does not work, Youtube does not work, basically all communications are down. You tell me sir, if they did not rig the elections where are all the people who supported Ahmadinejad? Why aren't they celebrating? Why is the mood in Tehran, even southern Tehran so gloomy? Why is the government so scared? When looking at these basic facts you can come to the conclusion far more easily than using some stupid statistical analysis that gives legitimacy to a government which for 30 years has just further consolidated its power."

[chill_wind]

26. The revisionism will start all too soon.

That's one for the bookmarks.

[pkdu]

8. Does any rone really believe that the guy who drew this crowd lost by more than 2-2 in the election

www.flickr.com/photos/mousavi1388/3610504041/in/set-72157619325634658

[BlooInBloo]

10. Nah. Not outside of a couple of dumb DUers, at any rate.

[Gregorian]

27. One tweet by SUV, two by Lexus.

And don't forget Starbucks.

Edit- I wasn't referring to Iran. Although I do have doubts about tweets versus bullets.