Twitter F-ing Rocks

I have no idea what time it is in Iran. I think it is just before dawn, but I'm not sure. All I know is that tonight Twitter had scheduled maintenance for around 9:45pm and once people began protesting and asking for help in Iran, Twitter changed their maintenance.

Read about it here. Instead of being an asshole company who shrugs its shoulders and says, "sorry," it recognized its importance and did what it could to help. In my book, that's pretty fucking cool. And if you think Twitter and/or the Iranians on Twitter are overemphasizing the impact, then how about this as food for thought: The government considers them so much a threat that they are disabling proxies as fast as they becomg available as well as hacking into individual Twitter accounts and threatening some Iranian Twitterati. (Update: Just after I published post, returned to Twitter to find the following):

Iranian gov't is watching Twitter; when RTing Iranians, replace username with "Iran" RT from Iran" Please RT

It's incredible that Twitter has become integral to this entire story. One cannot (or should not) report about the Iranian election protests without mentioning Twitter. When mainstream media and cable news outlets, in the US and other countries, failed to really report what was going down on Sunday, the people told their own stories with 140 characters or less on Twitter. People tweeted and retweeted #cnnfail #iranelection until CNN got the message and began doing something about coverage.

I think that's what is so compelling to me about this. Yes, the revolution is exciting, inspiring, scary, all those things. But the fact that those involved are shouting their stories from proverbial rooftops for all of us to hear as it happens is extraordinary. It's not a reporter showing footage from hours before or coming via satellite at the journalists' hotel. It's not a documentary years later with memories of what happened. It's a man, a woman, a student, a regular person in the thick of it in the now almost desperately conveying the events around them. And the world has listened, and in response people have demanded what they want to see and read.

Iran sits on the cusp of a cultural and political revolution, but make no mistake. The participants have already revolutionized news reporting as we know it. So say what you will about Twitter, but don't deny its utility has almost certainly reach heights well beyond its purpose. Pretty fucking nifty.