Twitting from Tehran

With the government media censorship and crackdown on Iranian protestors and Internet sites, Iranian are finding ways and means to get news and images out to the world. Photo by AFP/Mehdi Fedouach.

The government has blocked many sites. Facebook and YouTube are being monitored. Service is reportedly much slower than normal. Even mobile phone service has been affected. Slower service provides the opportunity for security forces and the police increased ability to filter data. Note Iran's telecommunications industry is a monopoly.

Remote proxy servers have been set up so Iranians can access blocked websites from inside their country. Other Internet companies and individuals around the world have stepped in and maximizing technology to help Iranians communicate and organize.

Twitter users are using an application that allows users to tint their profile pictures green. Not the La Salle color but the trademark color of the opposition. This application was developed by a man from Israel. In fact, Twitter re-scheduled maintenance shutdown so that users could continue to access the microblogging site.


Other Twitter users outside Iran have also shown support by changing their listed locations and time zones to Tehran. This is meant to make it more difficult to see just how many people were tweeting from Iran. Photo was uploaded on Twitter last June 21, 2009.

Mousavi’s Facebook account now has 66,000 supporters who have organized protests through his public page.

Google's video sharing site, YouTube, has seen an increase of video that relates to the Tehran crisis. Try searching for "Iran election protest" video and see how many results you will get. CNN’s iReport gets news video from Iranians on the streets.

Both Google and Facebook have responded to the need for Iranians to be able to to communicate in their own language. They have launched Farsi services. There are more Farsi speakers working on translations on Facebook. Farsi also refers to the Persian language. It refers to the language spoken in Iran.

I remember back in February 1986, on my when Filipinos marched and protested in EDSA against the rule of the late Ferdinand Marcos. News spread fast through radio and pagers. Now, Blackberries and Twitter help spread the message and news. Definitely, more proof that technology works for people, specially, for Iranians, who are calling for change.