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Twitter as a tool for freedom of speech
By Rosie Perera | June 15, 2009 at 8:51 pm
This is totally cool!
I’m not a Twitter user, though I’ve been watching with some interest as it has become a huge social phenomenon. I think much of what it gets used for is a waste of time and clogs people’s mental space. But this is one time when I can’t help but say “praise God for Twitter!” I’m sure you’ve all heard about the rallies and violence in Iran after the sham election which Ahmadinejad supposedly won. Phone and Internet service has been cut off in Tehran, but people are still able to get messages out via Twitter, and many are live-tweeting about what’s going on. A massive effort among Tweeters worldwide has prevented Twitter from going down for planned maintenance tonight during tomorrow’s daylight hours in Iran.
Here is Twitter’s official statement:
A critical network upgrade must be performed to ensure continued operation of Twitter. In coordination with Twitter, our network host had planned this upgrade for tonight. However, our network partners at NTT America recognize the role Twitter is currently playing as an important communication tool in Iran. Tonight’s planned maintenance has been rescheduled to tomorrow between 2-3p PST (1:30a in Iran).
Our partners are taking a huge risk not just for Twitter but also the other services they support worldwide — we commend them for being flexible in what is essentially an inflexible situation. We chose NTT America Enterprise Hosting Services early last year specifically because of their impeccable history of reliability and global perspective. Today’s decision and actions continue to prove why NTT America is such a powerful partner for Twitter.
This is historic! How exciting for those who get to be part of it. I’m still not about to sign up for a Twitter account. I’m content to watch from the sidelines. But I do think this is one way that Twitter can be a force for good in the world. Perhaps it will help the Iranian people to evict a totalitarian regime. Let’s pray they can do it peacefully, through the spread of truth, rather than rioting.
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February 12, 2011 at 2:07 am
[…] wrote last June about Twitter as a tool for freedom of speech in the midst of the attempted revolution in Iran. It was similarly exciting at the time, but ended […]