Twitter is being used instead of CNN and other traditional media for news covering the current Iranian demonstrations and civil unrest.

Twitter is the second most popular social network in the World after Facebook. The power of social media websites is becoming evident with the developments of the Iranian elections and demonstrations.

The most tweeted words used in June 09 are

• Twitter Iran Elections
• Twitter in Iran
• News Iran
• Iran on Twitter
• Iran Election Twitter

Thousands of twitter followers tweet about these issues. They post microblogs on the breaking news live. In fact, throughout the Iran Elections, users on Twitter, Facebook and Myspace blogged about police brutality and killings. Twitterers uploaded photos and videos with their mobile phones. These images and videos were posted by Twitter users all over the world; taking the entire news viral and spreading it at the speed of light around the internet.

The Iran Government has attempted to filter and block Facebook, Twitter and YouTube accounts to prevent demonstrators from orgainising themselves. However, Twitterers were quick on re-tweeting news on Iran whereas CNN has been slow to react to the developments in Iran.

The BBC has led the way for the traditional media. In the meantime, CNN has tried to catch up by posting news on the Iranian Election developments since the news circulated on Twitter. This is a coup for the web and social networks such as Twitter. The traditional news networks now follow social websites such as Twitter and Digg to keep up with major and extremely popular breaking news.

The most popular users on Twitter are able to take breaking news events viral because they have thousands of followers. Twitter users who want more followers to increase the readership of their tweets should consider using Become A Celebrity On Twitter

Comments