Internet becomes powerful medium to voice dissent

Dubai: Tweets have fast become the medium of the movement in Iran.

So much so that a US State Department official requested Twitter's co-founder Jared Cohen to delay the site's maintenance upgrade during the recent turmoil, thereby throwing a rope to Iranians who were looking for a way to update and inform the world.

Thanks to this technology, Iranian Gulf News readers were well clued into the happenings in their homeland.

Ali, an Iranian based in Dubai, said: "I have been following updates regularly on Twitter & when Iran banned international journalists from reporting and blocked websites, they under-estimated the power of Twitter and radio channels."

Easy access to such media through mobile phones allows information to spread to the masses, Ali added.

He said: "The internet is playing a major role in shaping the future of Iran. It is great that they have this tool to communicate & with the world."

According to Nasim Y., an Emirati, modern technology has created opportunities for Iranians that did not exist 30 years ago during the Islamic Revolution.

She said: "Earlier, people would have to print posters, distribute them secretly and spread information in fear. Now, with Twitter and Facebook, things are much more organised and immediate."

The fact that almost anything - from videos to FM radio channels - can be accessed on the internet is a major boost for Iranians seeking information, Nasim added.

Radio Farda is a Persian language radio channel that broadcasts news gathered from the public. It is playing a pivotal role, according to Nasim, who said an official ban on the channel in Iran has forced people to listen to it on the internet.

Communicating with loved ones back home and organising rallies and protests around the world to express support has become easier with Twitter's instant updates, too.

But Nasim said an untimely maintenance upgrade might break the flow of this important transfer of information. "It is a big moment in the history of Iran & the people there need all the support they can get," he said.

But why the sudden, huge movement to cyberspace? Syedeh Narges Hassan, an Iranian-Indian student at the American University of Sharjah, has a theory.

She said: "Networking websites like Twitter, Facebook and YouTube have gained so much popularity in Iran because & people are able to express themselves freely there, unlike in public."

She added that the younger generation in particular is "able to make the right use & of the powerful medium."