Why Twitter Won’t Bring Revolution To Iran
June 22nd, 2009 — Tim HwangAs a follow-up to last week’s release of our study on the shape of the Arabic blogosphere, happy to post today that Internet and Democracy’s own John Palfrey, Bruce Etling, and Rob Faris have recently published a piece in the Washington Post about the use of Twitter in Iran’s recent election turmoil. Drawing from our previous research here at I&D and some of the latest data that’s being pulled from the use of social media on the ground in Iran, we write:
After all, it appears that people living under authoritarian regimes such as the one in Iran are as addicted to the Internet as the rest of us are. Even though states push back, they can’t keep the Internet down for long without serious blowback from their citizens. Iranian officials have the power to shutter the Internet just as they once clamped down on reformist newspapers, but they may be more concerned now about any move that pushes those watching — or blogging or tweeting — from the sidelines into the throngs of protesters already in the streets.
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