Tuesday, June 16, 2009

The twitter revolution

Last night I was up till 1 am watching the #iranelection twitter feed. Tonight, the same. I dig down for old feeds and then scroll up to new feeds as they come in by the second. Look, this just in:  RT Report: Basij Going Inside Hospitals & Beating Injured Protesters & Taking Them To Prison (Confirmed) #IranElection

I respond to tweets. I change my setting to participate in social justice and to aid those fighting for democracy. I'm in disbelief yet I feel fulfilled  that I was actually having an impact so many miles away. And yes, I was. The collective voices of America, right now, are aiding the fight for democracy in Iran. How historic is that? It's a social revolution. Twitter has clearly demonstrated it's ability to aid in global collaboration.  Those silly 140 characters have transformed into an emotional cry for help. This reality based medium has changed the world, forever. Clay Shirky articulates the situation far better than I ever could on his blog.

As a native New Yorker who was in NYC on 9/11 I can't help imagining, if we had this resource on that day, would more lives have been saved? 

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