The Revolution will be Twittervised

Raikus — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 18:09:00 GMT

Click on the picture to see the astounding larger version.

There is a monumental piece of history going on right this moment. Most people are familiar with the controversy of the Iran Elections that happened last week. Incumbent "President" Mahmoud Ahmadinejad somehow won 63.29% of a vote over a popular challenger that pre-election polls said he would lose. After Ahmadinejad defended the election and its results in a stilted press conference yesterday millions of Iranians have taken to the streets with shouts of "Death to the Dictator." Now the riots have gotten dangerous. Ahmadinejad's militia and police have begun severely beating protesters and there are currently reports of at least several people that have been shot and killed in Azadi Square in Tehran.

But we're not getting this news from conventional sources like CNN, AP and Reuters. We're getting first hand, unbiased and non-regurgitated news direct from the people of Tehran on Twitter. In a country where the release of information is controlled by the government, Twitter seems to be the only free form communication method left in the hands of the people -- and they're using it to great effect.

As I'm writing this tweets from Twitter users in Tehran keep coming in. Half a minute ago Twitter users posted: "our friends were beaten brutally today in azadi sq. and this was a peaceful and silent rally. oh god. what a nightmare." Another said, "Have you sseen how our own TV covered everything that happened? It's a shame!"

It's fascinating and scary to think that we could be witnessing a revolution at this very moment and that Twitter has provided the tool for those involved to broadcast it to the world as it's happening.

You can follow it yourself by searching for posts with #iranelection attached to them. Also, view real time tweets coming directly out of Tehran by going here.

If you want to educate yourself more on the situation surrounding the elections this Time article does a good job of walking through the stages.

The Wastebucket : twitter

The Revolution will be Twittervised