Thursday, June 25, 2009
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has returned to power in the wake of a controversial election. In response to protests, the Iranian government has made tight restrictions on the Internet, texting, country calls and access to social networking sites. Despite the censorship, steady streams of video and pictures have been posted on social media sites such as YouTube, Flickr, and Twitter.
Hundreds of Tweets, messages sent through twitter, are posted each minute requesting fellow Tweeters to change their location on Twitter to Tehran, Iran.
Philip A. Schrodt, professor of political science, said the change showed the opposition towards the government’s recent social media restrictions. The increased number of tweets coming from the Tehran time zone makes it challenging for the Iranian government to monitor all activity.
“It’s making it more difficult for the Iranian government to stop protests,” Schrodt said.
University alumnus and tweeter Niloofar Shahmohammadi said that starting last Saturday night she began seeing a lot of people on Twitter change their locations to Tehran. Shahmohammadi, who was born in Iran, changed her Twitter account, “Niloooo,” location to Tehran last week.
“Doing this is a small, easy thing to do to show you’re united,” Shahmohammadi said. “It’s a symbolic gesture.”
Amazed by the amount of people showing support, Shahmohammadi said she was surprised by how many Americans were involved in the discussions.
“Ninty-nine percent of the people Twittering are Americans,” Shahmohammadi said. “It puts me in a good mood because people really care.”
“Protests in Tehran” and “Iran election” have been under the “Trending Topics” sidebar on Twitter as most discussed topics for several weeks. Twitterers have been posting videos and photos of demonstrations, catching the attention of people around the world.
Schrodt said Twitter had had a profound affect on the situation, making it difficult for Iranian government to stop the protests.
“Social media and Twitter is making the world smaller,” Schrodt said. “We now have the ability to post anything and once the info gets out anyone can see it.”
Twitter is a main source of news on the Iran election, Thaddeus L’Heureux, 23, Lawrence, said. He changed his location last week after becoming distracted by the overwhelming amount of pictures and news links posted on Twitter.
“It’s the best way to follow the Iran situation,” L’Heureux said. “It shows what people who are hungry for democracy look like.”
Another way people have shown opposition to the Iranian elections is through the use of the color green.
Twitterers have changed their “avatars,” their Twitter profile image, to images such as simple green backgrounds and signs that read “Free Iran Now.”
L’Heureux’s, “Painter86”, avatar has a green hue to it, and he is following multiple other Tweeters whose avatars are green or read “Where is our vote.”
“It may have no effect at all,” L’Heureux said. “But it gives a bit of distraction.”
— — Edited by Mike Bontrager
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Comments
Twitter reflects civil unrest in Iran
Great article! Just a quick correction though, I wasn't born in Iran...was born here in good ol' US of A....Kansas City born and raised ;) I love Iran though and I'm so happy to see all these people going green!!! :) And just fyi to anyone who might be reading this, there have been several rallies and events held in the Plaza area over the last two weeks...facebook search is your best bet to find out about these events!
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