This actual video is a proof of what happened after government's try to shut down common media platforms. An instant message on Twitter managed to gather this group for protest. The message simply stated:
ALL internet & mobile networks are cut. We ask everyone in Tehran to go onto their rooftops and shout ALAHO AKBAR in protest #IranElection
That a new information technology could be improvised for this purpose so swiftly is a sign of the times. It reveals in Iran what the Obama campaign revealed in the United States. You cannot stop people any longer. You cannot control them any longer. They can bypass your established media; they can broadcast to one another; they can organize as never before.Denied traditional sources of public information, the world turned to social-networking tools that provided services ranging from conventional news reports to a means for organizing protests worldwide.
People used Web 2.0 technologies in support of at least four kinds of activities:
(1) street journalism,
(2) mobilizing the Iranian diaspora,
(3) organizing the activists
(4) information warfare.
This shows that even though government tries to censor and protect itself from any disturbance, the available SN sources help people to raise their opinions to such extent that it even leads to revolution. To what was and is happenning in Iran, could be a lesson to many governments. Not only governments should prepare and adapt themselves to handling such situations, but also activists should monitor whether the received information is credible. The times have changed and with available mediums, especially the use of them among Millenial generation, governments, even though with trials of censorship, loose their power to the internet. I believe it is not only Iranians who trust what they find online more than they trust official media.
Sources:
The Revolution will be Tweeted
How Twitter shaped Irans Election
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