Twitter opened door on Iranian election (while offline media stayed silent)

The events of the past few days in Iran have demonstrated the capability of Twitter to circumvent controls on traditional media, allowing people to communicate and provide images of what is going on on the ground.

In case you've not yet heard through television, radio or the press, there have been a series of massive protests in Iran over the election results, with loud claims that the election had been rigged.

These protests, punctuated with vivid images, have been documented using Twitter as a media channel. Coverage via traditional media, which has been tightly controlled by the state, has been delayed and impeded by prohibitions such as not being able to leave the capital, Tehran, to witness events elsewhere in the country.

Iran is well-known for being a country with a high level of social media use across its population, sometimes called the third largest nation of bloggers.

This is another demonstration of the shift in power from central administrations towards individuals, it is becoming more and more difficult for governments to control real-time message flow - particularly when there are widespread dissenting views.

If you want to follow it yourself, try these Twitter searches

• Tehran within 15 miles
• #IranElection

Or these news report,

• Iran situation highlights strengths, weaknesses of Twitter - The Inquisitr
• '#CNNFail': Twitterverse slams network's Iran absence - CNET
• The day Twitter kicked CNN’s behind & @ev bought me a whisky - Scobleizer
• Live-Blogging The Uprising - The Huffington Post
• Activists Launch Hack Attacks on Tehran Regime - Wired