Today's Mighty Oak

Maybe I’ve been wrong about Twitter



I’m not a huge fan of Twitter.  I never have been.  I think partly it has to do with its dependency and prevalence through text messaging, which I’m very slow at, as well as find very costly (I don’t have a texting plan, so I pay per message).  I also think that Twitter is a fad.

At least, I used to.

 

Currently, I’m writing this from the middle of the woods.  Work takes me to a camp for the summer, with limited internet access, so I have not been following the Iranian election as closely as I would like.

However, the little bit that I am reading, typically comes back to the fact that when students and other young people are demonstrating, or organizing rallies, they use text messaging and Twitter to quickly get the word out.  Details are flying and people are organized and mobilized faster than ever before.

But the real stories, the real pieces being run with by citizen journalists are what happens at and after the protests, rallies, marches, forced evacuations and so many other things happening.  Once again, the power of ordinary citizens have taken root, and the mantra of the day seems to have taken hold:

One Person = One Broadcaster

To that note, Twitter has postponed scheduled critical maintenance until tomorrow, so that updates can still keep the world informed about what is happening.  Not only does that prove a fine example of sensitivity and community involvement, it also speaks to how important citizen journalism is, especially in this particular situation.

And as much as it may pain me to say it, because for whatever reason I still resist, I think this may be one of those pivotal events that propels Twitter past being a potential fad, and transforms it into a medium we all look to for on-the-ground citizen journalism.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Social Links

Archives

How I’m Resisting

What I’m fighting for

What I’m running from

What I’m reading

What I’m drinking

What we’re writing

What I’m running