For those of us who mocked at the “triviality” of social networking sites – the recent unrest in Iran should be an eye opener. When President Ahmadinejad returned to power with a massive win, thousands of Iranians on the grounds cried foul. These supporters of former Prime Minister Mousavi claimed that the elections were heavily rigged and were out on the streets. Had it been a few years earlier, this would have been just another political problem in just another country. But today it is no less than a world event: followed, understood and participated by people around the globe.
Thanks to social media.
It is almost uncanny to think that a political struggle is being fought on social media circles as much as it is being fought on 
the streets of Tehran. The fieriest battlefield is of course Twitter. To give you an idea how much Iran dominates micro blogging, here are some facts. Every 1 min, almost 10 new feeds on Iran are posted on Twitter; and ever since the election results, “iran” and “iranelectons” has constantly been on the top 10 trended discussions, world over!
the streets of Tehran. The fieriest battlefield is of course Twitter. To give you an idea how much Iran dominates micro blogging, here are some facts. Every 1 min, almost 10 new feeds on Iran are posted on Twitter; and ever since the election results, “iran” and “iranelectons” has constantly been on the top 10 trended discussions, world over! What Google did to the internet, and Facebook did to the social networking, Twitter is most definitely doing to both! It has redefined what social networking can achieve, and has become the single most important face of the internet today. Never before has a two year company made so much visible impact to business, media and politics. Untill a few years back blogs were for meant for geeks, celebs and bored individuals! With the advent of micro-blogging, the internet has opened itself to (almost) everyone. Students, professionals, media personnel, marketers, anyone who has the time to type 140 characters has the means to reach out to the world. And the world literally follows.
From the marketing perspective Twitter is a buzz heaven. For any word of mouth campaign to be successful it needs three tools: credibility, reach and speed. Credibility has always been a social media thing. Twitter stands out because of its reach and more so because of it extraordinary speed. The Iran affair has shown the world that the scope of social networking goes far beyond party pictures and funny animal videos: it holds the power to bring about real change. And for people who aren’t really interested in change and justice, this episode also showed what newer levels of success an organic 'word of mouth' campaign can achieve.
Last heard: Twitter Overtakes Google as Leading Search Engine for “Iran+Election”
Cheers !
