In the New York Times article, “U.S. Steps Gingerly Into Tumult in Iran – NYTimes.com” you can see the impact that social networking is having.
What happened in Iran?
SImply put, people are using social networking to report what is happening around them. They are getting around government blockage and media filtering and putting out raw information on events. Text messages are being blasted onto Twitter in real time. Videos are being uploaded to YouTube direct from the people that are in the middle of history.
Jon Williams, the BBC world news editor, made a great comment, “The days when regimes can control the flow of information are over.”
When the government is asking social networking sites to delay maintenance, you know something is changing. As stated in the article, “social networking as a new arrow in its diplomatic quiver.”
For those of you that don’t “get” what Twitter is about, maybe what is happening in Iran will help you to understand the power of something as simple as 140 characters, one message at a time.