There's no chance that I'm doing a blog entry on the Iran elections. As such, this is no more than a mini blog post. There are two things to note, however. The first thing concerns an extremely astute (and now prophetic) article written by a close friend of mine, Deborah Martin. About six months ago, she wrote an article on the untapped potential of Twitter and Facebook for political protest and free speech. The second (and rather sadder) thing to note is that Twitter can finally lay to rest the dull celebrity tag that has been foisted on it by tabloid and (shamefully) broadsheet newspapers. Currently, only The Guardian appears to have 'got' Twitter - even The Independent has written appalling articles on tittle-tattle, naff status updates and it being that social networking tool that's used to stalk celebrities. Real-time searching, tsunami/earthquake warning system possibilities and almost universal blogging potential have all been roundly ignored in the print media.
If you want to read a blog post on the Iran elections, here is what you do.
1. If you're not on Twitter, sign yourself up with an account. Don't worry, you can always delete it later if you think that Twitter is just a banal social networking tool with pointless talk and too many egos.
2. Once you're on Twitter, sign in and look at trending topics - click on #iranelection. If this isn't present, type in #iranelection into the search box.
3. Read, absorb and watch the fully live 'blog entry' on the situation in Iran. I don't need to tell you anything.
4. If you want to help or get involved, please read this blog entry. If this blog entry has been taken down, then look for similar blog entry guides on how you can help the #iranelection online campaign. I really recommend this, as I tripped myself up by re-tweeting a proxy server that Iranian people could use and thus ended advertising it in the public arena (and was rightly told off by someone). Better to use Direct Messages if at all possible.
5. An 'internet meme' this maybe is - but it involves real people, in real danger. As opposed to something silly like Rickrolling (as much as I was amused by that).
Oh and 6. Don't do what this idiot Republican senator did with his thoughts on the Twitter Iran campaign.
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