I am openly a twitter-phobe, in that I have been avoiding signing up for an account at all costs, for fear of becoming addicted. Why do people need to know where I ate for lunch, or what I'm thinking every 10 minutes? They don't, but Twitter is obviously an incredible tool for social mobilization. Adding to Lizz's previous blog post about the importance of Twitter, there is no getting around the fact that Twitter is growing at an exponential rate. Twitter is responsible for the quick spreading of news after Dr. Tiller's assassination, and our own FMF relies heavily on Twitter to keep our members in the know (shameless plug).
According to Reuters news, the US State Department contacted Twitter's headquarters, asking Twitter officials to stall current plans for a Twitter update, which had been planned for Tuesday. The Obama Administration realized the importance of Twitter, and the need for youth to be able to stay in contact with one another during the current political activity in Iran. Officials explained that if the US were to upgrade Twitter, it would make the site unavailable to the thousands of users in Iran, and the US would thus be accused of trying to intervene in Iran's election.
No, I'm not signing up for a personal Twitter account any time soon, but I certainly now see the importance of it on an international level.
2 comments:
I agree Laura. I think it is silly to have a personal Twitter and just leave unimportant updates about your life. Of course, maybe it's just because my life is relatively unexciting. I totally agree that Twitter is useful at the international level, and for organizations,like FMF. It is truly incredible how useful it is in disemminating information throughout large groups of people.
Twitter has just made a statement that its delaying of site maintainance was a decision made by the networking site, and not by the US State Dept. It's role in ensuring the world stays informed on the quite frankly reovlutionary developments in Iran is undenibale.
You can view the article here:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8104318.stm
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