By Sara Tehrani
Contributing Writer
Nowadays, parents are constantly complaining about how their kids are on the computer too much and aren’t learning enough.
If it’s not, “Shut off the Playstation,” it’s “Why don’t you read a book for a change?” But the truth is that technology is becoming the greatest educational tool for our time. Kids can read the NY Times online, informing themselves on the world around them and saving a tree at the same time. We can send e-mails to a company in a small city in Thailand and get a response within hours… THAILAND! And most recently, in the dawn of the Iran elections and the protests and horrifying events that followed, Twitter became king of world news.
Twitter Trumps News Networks
CNN, BBC, Fox and MSNBC weren’t the first ones to report; in fact, not a single station reported any events until over a day after Iran’s election riots broke out. Bloggers were outraged and the latest social networking site, Twitter, dominated the news world, providing a haven for eyewitnesses in the chaos in Tehran who could send in posts from their computers, cell phones and satellites in real live time. When most all other websites were blocked in Iran, Twitter was pumping out hundreds of “tweets” per minute, even up until and after the government had shut off all cell phone and internet networks, and then eventually, all electricity.
The day that rioting and protests broke out, Iran called for the expulsion of all news reporters and declined to renew any visas, so with few foreign correspondents permitted to stay in the country, Twitter was the only way the world was receiving information on the situation that had erupted in Tehran.
How did I learn this? Twitter, of course, as it was happening. That night, I sat at my computer for nearly six hours refreshing my Twitter search “#IranElection” which had made it to a top search within hours of its creation. I had never felt closer to an issue in my life. Not only because I am Iranian-American, first generation in this country, and almost all of my family resides in Tehran; but because I was reading firsthand accounts of ordinary citizens who had gotten caught up in the chaos after election results were released and were risking their lives to update the WORLD on what was going on in the streets and on their rooftops. And I know that millions of other twitterers were feeling this sentiment and experiencing this intimacy with Iranian bloggers and to the immediate news reports Twitter was receiving.
Short, But Sweet Colossally Substantial
In a complete media blackout, Twitter, which has been likened to websites like Facebook, another online social networking site, was the only source of instant, and for the most part, accurate information. And this news was being reported in what, one might ask? Precisely one hundred and forty characters. That’s all. This sentence you’re reading is exactly one hundred and forty characters, what can be fit in here that can classify as an entire news story? One might be surprised. Tweeted and re-tweeted on Twitter are some of the most powerful and informative words I have read out of all the news regarding the Iran elections and is remarkably telling of the power of Twitter, which limits all posts to 140 characters, no exceptions, not even in a war. Millions of tweets reporting news of protests, chants, tanks, riots, police brutality, deaths and all other reports were all delivered in a mere 140 characters or less via Twitter. Re-tweeted a number of times were these inspiring words: “140 characters is a novel when you’re being shot at.”
A Worldwide Lifeline of Support
The support that came out from fellow tweeters, be they Iranian, American, German, Greek, Italian, Arab, was colossal; tweeters were posting and “re-tweeting” any and all information that was beneficial for people to use. Regardless of ethnicity, bloggers were altering their icons to be green in solidarity for Iranians and they were trying their best at hiding tweeters from Iran since the country was looking to disconnect all users in the country and all internet and satellite transmissions. The support and the involvement of the Twitter community was so powerful and inspiring; at a time when not a lot of information was being dispersed, people, all people, wanted to help. One girl wrote, “I went green and changed my time zone to Tehran, what else can I do to support the people of Iran?”
It is incredibly beautiful to see support like this for another country amid a terrible commotion. When protesters, children are dying in the streets, this time, it is not just Iran that is suffering and mourning, but people all over the world for the first time who are witnessing images and videos of the atrocities and are sympathizing selflessly for individuals they will never meet. It is truly heartening, and the fact that a simple networking site like Twitter, where one might simply tweet about the latest Gossip Girl episode, could bring about such unity and restore a good faith in people, is unbelievable.
Who Would Have Thought?
Who would have thought that a website used primarily to discover what new hair Lindsay Lohan is sporting or that Brody Jenner’s blackberry was lifted from a bar he was sitting at could be of an actual intelligent use? A HISTORICAL TOOL even! Who would have believed that a few years down the road from now, my children will have history books discussing how the 2009 Iranian revolution (yes, I am calling it a revolution) was twitterized? Will my children still be using history books by then?
Who knows?
All I know today is that Twitter is no longer for deciphering Shaquille O’Neal’s poor grammar or learning of the travesty that is Kim Kardashian’s flight to LA being delayed (I love you, Kim, but I could care less). We are entering an era where people in Iran, and worldwide, are using these sites as the only means of communication to the rest of the world in a courageous and risky attempt to notify others about the situation they are braving. It is a giant leap for technology, for history and for people. 30 years ago, Iran’s last revolution looked exactly like what we are seeing now; the only difference is that 30 years ago there was no Twitter and nothing remotely like it.
A common re-tweet on Twitter at the break of the Iran election uprising was this:
“The revolution will not be televised, it will be twitterized.”
Without a doubt, this event has shown the world that Twitter has become a key tool in the historical and informational development of the world, and in this scenario in particular, a key tool for international transparency as a window of knowledge and enlightenment to the rest of the world.
Sara Tehrani is a sophomore studying English, Political Science and Music in Washington, DC. She is Persian, living on the East Coast of the US and enjoys writing, dancing, playing the piano, playing tennis, and volunteering at organizations like the American Red Cross and Special Olympics. Sara speaks three languages and is an aspiring lawyer.