Twitter decides to stay online in Iran: remains a powerful tool.

Twitter Inc. decided to stay online to allow an outlet for Iranian protesters to communicate. Iran has blocked access to many other internet sites such as Facebook but has been unable to block Twitter. It is unfair to think that Tweets might persuade the Iranian government to change its ways. Social media, like any media, is not in itself capable of making change. Twitter is nothing more than one vehicle being used to facilitate the revolution but that fact does not necessarily detract from its value in this struggle. As long as it remains free from government control, the media is an important tool of free speech.

Today, in a piece by Voice of America (6/20), it was noted that if the protests continue the police have said they will deal with them “firmly.”

The consequences of a revolution are not avoided by Twitter. However, it does allow the user anonymity. A revolution against an authoritarian government regime is not going to end with one side bowing peacefully in defeat and giving a tour to the winner of the government grounds. If this revolution accelerates, it is going to involve a lot of bloodshed and that would be the case whether organizers of the protests used Twitter or any other form of media as a way to vent and organize. Already, according to Voice of America, Amnesty International has counted “at least 10 killings.”

Some media coverage was not surprisingly focused on whether or not Twitter was as important as it has been touted in this situation. In an op-ed in the Washington Post (6/18), researchers at Harvard University's Berkman Center for Internet & Society were quite critical of the significance of Twitter and its actual impact on the Iranian Revolution.

The authors make thoughtful points on the relevance of the new media. For example, they assert that some authoritarian governments have allowed bloggers and others to use the internet as a way to voice discontent and have done so in an effort to avoid the sort of protests that have recently occurred in Iran.

While they may be correct to assert that Twitter is not going to persuade the Iranian government to change its practices, the media has been used enough by the protestors and drawn enough interest by world on-lookers to be considered a significant tool of revolution. Every type of media or communication has limits. A short tweet, or a flood of energetic tweets are better than no collective communication and no energy in a repressed people.

Tweets have not forced those protesters into the streets but it has given them a forum to discuss and organize. Iranians using Twitter find it to be an exciting and energizing way to communicate – word limit or not. Protests are nothing if not the collective energy of a people trying to effect change.

Mass protests scheduled for today may or may not go forward but the past protest activity-not Tweets alone- has resulted in Iran's Council of Guardians offering to recount some of the irregular votes, according to the Voice of America piece.

Twitter may not force the hand of the Iranian government, or any other for that matter, but at least it has provided an avenue for Iranians to throw their speech into the marketplace of ideas and it has added exposure to their plight.