The Two Faces of Twitter: Revolution in a Digital Age

When Parisians stormed the Bastille in 1789, political communications centered primarily on newspapers and face-to-face conversations. News-gathering was localized, and it took weeks for political developments to spread around the world.

Now, political protest has shifted to the Internet. The role of Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter in recent Iranian street demonstrations shows the power of digital technologies. Because of their decentralized nature, these tools empower grass-roots activists and help them bypass government authorities.

Protesters employ cell phones, text messages, mobile cameras, blogs, and social websites to get news out to the rest of the world. One person used his mobile to film the death of Neda, a young woman shot to death by police during a Tehran street rally. That graphic video was posted to YouTube and, within days, had been seen by millions of viewers.

Even while authorities censor news, arrest journalists, shut down satellite transmissions, and prohibit television coverage of rallies, new communications tools allow dissidents to conduct interviews, distribute pictures, and send contemporaneous videos instantly around the world.

In an era of citizen journalism and democratized news flows, it is impossible for governments to control information flows from the top. They can pull down Internet sites and slow the flow of news. But as pointed out recently by Secretary of Defense Secretary Robert Gates, government officials "can't draw the net tight enough to stop everything."

Americans generally feel digital technologies have benefited the Iranian struggle for political and human rights. When asked in a national poll about the role of Twitter in Iran protests, 51 percent felt it has been a positive force.

At the same time that Twitter and Facebook facilitate grass-roots communications, though, these technologies sow the seeds for future political repression. Due to Internet "cookies" and other tracking devices, visitors to social media sites leave digital footprints that are easy for authorities to compile.

The Iranian police already have collected laptops and cell phone memory cards that document past transmissions. Through this and other evidence, they determine who transferred unfavorable videos, conducted hostile interviews, and signed up to become Facebook friends of opposition presidential candidate Mir Hussein Moussavi.

What authoritarian governments need more than anything else in a crackdown is lists of people sympathetic to opposition leaders. Through digital technologies, it is easy to come up with names and Internet addresses of grass-roots sympathizers.

New technologies create the option for governments to engage in digital propaganda of their own. There have been news reports of government officials hijacking Moussavi's Facebook page and sending inaccurate information to his followers in an attempt to confuse the opposition.

In the digital era, technology cuts many different ways. New tools help protesters communicate with the world. But they also enable authorities to identify dissidents and track them down.

On their own, digital technologies cannot produce revolutions. To generate fundamental change, it still takes strong leadership, powerful ideas, and people willing to risk arrest and imprisonment.

Comments

[padrushka]

oh you mean like our ability to listen to other americans.?? one thing certain, the operative word is grass roots , meaning you can't hire enough people to collect each and every bit of data everywhere. not sure if it is good or bad, speculation is moot .

[carolrhill814]

I don't know whether Twitter was involved with telling us what is really going on Iran but if they were involved at the very least we were able to see how lucky we are in United States.

MAY GOD BLESS ALL THE IRANIAN PEOPLE NOW AND FOR ALL TIME AS I AM SURE HE WILL!!!

[Squaker]

I'm still in awe of all the free advertising twitter has gotten

It really had very little role in the protests
I don't believe twitter even supports the Persian language. So it seems pretty clear that it wouldn't be a major source of info for the iranian people

I suppose certain American journalists decided to take their coverage of Iran's election from twitter users. Why I couldn't tell you.

[57basque]

All this Tech. stuff is going to help us all connect. Let "Them" find out who all the grass-roots people are. Many of us have much more wisdom then them. And in this day of terrorism "They" are going to keep quite busy hearing what we have to say,

[57basque]

All this Tech. stuff is going to help us all connect. Let "Them" find out who all the grass-roots people are. Many of us have much more wisdom then them. And in this day of terrorism "They" are going to keep quite busy hearing what we have to say,

[Raphi]

Speed does not equal depth. Reaction is not action. Two badly typed lines or sensational pictures do not equal freedom of the press. Nor do postings of personal likes or dislikes, so often confused with an informed opinion, equal free speech.

And as others here have pointed out, all of this "new media" technology is dependent on access controlled by international corporations whose interests are hardly those of the vast majority. We may be ceding the ability to form opinions based on the patient work of investigative journalists. By succumbing to the glamor of fast words which are as nourshment for the mind what fast food is for the body.

But real change happens at the slow rate of human evolution. It requires processing and reflection. And wisdom, as traditional peoples know, only comes after a lifetime of experience.

[breakingpoint]

Digital Tech hasn't done much in the way of getting Americans out into the streets

In fact we are losing our rights and freedoms because we aren't making our presence felt in DC.
The only one's who have gained in the last few decades have been Lobbyists and the Bankers on Wall Street

Iran is working to get more freedom while we let ours fizzle away.

[Gyatak]

Thank you for an excellent article. I have been saying this to my friends for years. People must become aware of the possible future consequences of what they are doing online today. Everything you post, every email you send, and every contact you have is RECORDED PERMANENTLY. With the emergence of Facebook, Twitter, and other tools that encourage you to reveal all your inner thoughts, your political or religious point of view, though benign today, could be targeted tomorrow when an extreme regime comes into power.

For every upside in convenience and personal empowerment, there is a massive downside. Please, please, please. Study the history of the world, and dig deeper than the mainstream, propagandist history taught in the schools. The name of the game for some people is power and profit at all costs. We have not grown beyond this. Even the most benign person could easily find themselves targeted because of careless posts they make now.

[Chazmania]

whenever a government including the USA "cracks" down or censors any communication between people it is only for suppressing the truth and denying basic human rights to further a tyrannical oppressive agenda. Only people with something to hide try and hide it! period!

[LMPE]

Maybe there'll eventually be a medium that doesn't leave a footprint.

[Chazmania]

Maybe we need to stand up unafraid to tyrants. If enough of us did they would have no power!
We collectively and with permission allow tyrants to control us by succumbing to there fear tactics causing our inaction. I am proud of the Iranian students and citizens for being brave in front of an obviously violent and repressive regime.

[getumall]

The hell with the tyrants in Iran, continue to blog and twitter and videotape off cell phones, etc. to get the message out of what really is happening over there.
Too bad this technology wasn't around in 1989 when Communist China slaughtered the student protesters.
On my own site, I relay messages from Twitter as well as blog about the events that are unfolding and people comment as well. This sort of thing can NO LONGER be tolerated, not in this day and age.
Think what might have been had the United States reacted in this manner following the 2000 election here. Think about it and God forbid this should continue to happen ANYWHERE in the world!

[cmugs]

awesome. Literally almost the same words came out of my mouth last night while talking to my stepfather. I think we are seeing two major waves breaking right now. The first is information sharing has reached a point where there is almost no excuse to be ignorant and almost no excuse to NOT be involved in the process of govt from the bottom up. The 2nd waves feeds into the first and that is for at least a century in this country (longer in other places throughout the world) information sharing didn't keep up with the demands of society in such a way that it was easy to participate in government which in turn led to a gradual consolidation of power (in the US) in the federal level of govt. We as the ppl basically gave the states' powers over to the national govt (for various reasons including laziness). As a result, we have reached a turning point where people are realizing that it takes participation on all levels of govt to keep corrupt ppl out of office. I hope the trend I'm seeing is that we've reached the culmination of that consolidation in this country with the ousting of the bush/cheney regime and perhaps (to whatever extent the comparison is relevant) we are seeing the same in Iran. I sincerely hope that the people of this nation and the world as a whole can harness these tools we've come up with to move forward in a positive direction.

[mdspatsy]

Dear Mr.Darrell West,
I have read of this article in a methodical manner.
Because of these social media websites,many youngsters­,adults,st­udents came to know what is politics,,­inequaliti­es on many fronts,their democratic rights had been come to picture.
Always, we have to accept any new ideas,aspirations of young,upcoming population.
On any ideas, there will be plus and minus .
Due to day by day formation,­applicatio­ns of new sills,thinking ability,sharing of knowledge will be widened.
In Iran,these above social media websites had created certain jolts to established authorities.
If i will not have broad band connection,and without any latest system,how i will be able to type these sentences.

[lifeinfullcolor]

I must say that the digital media certainly has it's flaws, but, it facilitates information that otherwise wouldn't be given. The media is so powerful, I call it and have called it the modern day messiah, it brainwashes you, it feeds you simplistic lines, talking points are given without requiring you to educate yourself, to ask the questions, to inform yourself. With a click of the remote, you can go from Fox to MSNBC, hear the same story spun to suit their listeners agenda, it's amazing, like a pendulum. I now can go on the internet, I can comment like I'm doing now, I can get information from other comments, I'm not stuck with just what someone sitting in a corporate office deems I don't need to hear, so they'll run with it. Now one downfall I see, this country will sit at their computers, their iphones, but won't get out in the streets like the Iranians have done. I stood on a corner for 10 months protesting our involvement in Iraq, a young man approached me and asked if I thought standing there would make a change, bring about a change. I wonder where that young man is, if he's watching what's going on, if he's joined the twitter, we all are twittering from Tehran?

[seashar]

Well said. I also fear the continued passivity, especially in America which is supposed to be and has been and was in the very beginning a model for democratic participation and courage among ordinary citizens.

Not these days. Too much sitting in front of the tv and slapping the arm of your chair when you approve, flipping to another channel when you disagree, perhaps to find something that more closely MIMICS your own opinion. If that opinion was arrived at by intelligent and critical thinking, then the place to be not in front of your tv being passive; if that opinion was arrived at because it seemed to reflect your lifestyle, race or income level, then it also usually means you will consistently look for confirmation, not new information.

So get over your useless high school education and get on with delving deeply into what's what by talking to as many diverse people as you can, reading as many diverse newspapers as you can, avoiding mainstream media whose stakeholders preclude broadcast of anything which might alienate its advertisers. Look at who are the advertisers and underwriters of the mainstream media. Inform yourself. Consider what is fact-based and what is not. Then encourage others to do this as well, on their own, and avoid knee-jerk assertions.

Finally, BELIEVE NOTHING.

[stuporman]

we are shocked, shocked to find out that iran is using western technology to monitor communications at the same time we exonerate att and verizon for allowing warrantless wiretapping in america.

[Chazmania]

Americans is the worst hypocrites on planet earth and we prove it every day!