The Twitter team has moved their scheduled maintenance times to help the protesters in Iran to easily communicate with each other for planning their next protest rally against government of Ahmedinejad. If you check out the Twitter most famous terms these days, it is #Iranelection and #Iran. This means that it has become an important means of communication for the people inside and outside Iran to get themselves updated about the latest happenings. I checked out the term #Iranelection in twitter from our profile TechNama to check out the updates.
There were people from around the globe spreading the stories, which frankly speaking, i found hard to verify. Anyways, the Twitter has decide to reschedule their scheduled maintenance to 2 – 3pm Pacific Time, which is middle of the night in Iran. According to Biz Stone of Twitter
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.
I wonder what made Twitter do this? Is it that it wants to support its users in Iran or is it that it is taking side with the anti-Government protests taking place in Iran? I think Twitter should have avoided it as it will become political and this may result in serious repercussion for the company. I won’t be surprised if Twitter is banned in many countries around the world which have a strict media regulations since Twitter has lost its neutrality with this move.
Do let me know if you think Twitter is right in taking sides in the current standoff?
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{ 8 comments… read them below or add one }
Twitter is moving their scheduled maintenance because they will be seeing MANY new subscribers if they can remain THE source of information out of Iran. CNN/BBC/AlJazera are reading press releases from the Iranian government and Twitter is getting news on actual events. From the street.
With subscribers comes the ability to drastically increase their advertising prices when they do get an advertising medium set up.
It’s all about the all coveted dollar. But they’re helping some people out, so we gotta give em some credit.
It can be mainly a technical move. Since most of the current traffic could be generated by the Iran events and thus necessarily synchronized on Iran hour, it would be rational to change the schedule for maintenance.
But indeed it is clumsy as it can be used by censorship-loving countries as a nice reason to definitely block twitter, even if I think they don’t need this kind of reasons to make such a move: the only fact that it’s mostly used by opponents should be a sufficient reason.
@Ryan! I think u are right about generating new business. I am already observing a lot of people taking advantage out of this situation by making $$$$. People won’t miss a small opportunity yet alone Twitter!
@Arthur! I think they should not have made it a main reason even if they had to move the scheduled maintenance. Now everyone will view Twitter as a party who helped the people communicate against government. In reality its a double edge thing so even pro government supporters can use it. I still remember the debate to ban twitter when some terrorists used it to coordinate their actions so such debates are bound to take place when ever it is used against anyone and in this scale an elected government.
anything to help getting rid of these mullahs , it has been 30 years we have been waiting for this day. Iran Government shall be chnaged by its people not by outsiders.
We have done that times after times and we doing it again. I look forward to see the mullahs been praded in front of TV to be shut and killed for waht they have done in Iran during the last 30yers.
They should be no traces left of these bastards/
It’s amazing to see how people are getting around the block the government has thrown up for the internet and many media outlets. More people in Iran need to learn how to circumvent an internet proxy: http://www.howcast.com/videos/90601-How-To-Circumvent-an-Internet-Proxy
I think Twitter is making the right decision; I don’t see this as losing neutrality because I never saw the need for them to have it in the first place. Their website is playing an important part in the current situation in Iran, and it is a good PR move to maintain their current monopoly on sheer number of updates from the area.
Besides, countries that would block twitter for this would probably already have it blocked for another reason, they don’t need an excuse. And to them, I say **** you!
Now I would like to see the US gov to come out in support of the iranian people and their right to protest
The main people using Twitter for Iranian updates are the English-speaking techie ones who’re against the current government – and that is a tiny, tiny percentage of the country. Who really was or wasn’t elected is still a mystery, and anyone who takes sides on that is clearly biased to one side, upset that their preferred party lost the elections, or else taking orders under force.
@ALEX I don’t think you or your State have the right to decide for another nation what they want. There are plenty of PRO-Ahmedinijad protests going on too, but the media isn’t giving fair coverage – what happened to THEIR right to protest? Why’s that being smothered and shoved under the carpet? But no, the mainstream media’s glued onto the anti-Ahmedinijad side of the story, for a reason. Twitter’s agreeing to take orders from the US State means it is effectively willing to become part of a media revolution that is promoting destabalization in another country – a media campaign propelled by news giants that have clear biases, including the BBC that refused to air a humanitarian appeal for aid to Gaza’s injured civilians.
Twitter could accidentally have ended up as a part of that revolution anyway, but actually re-scheduling technical issues for this is no small joke. I doubt Stone and Williams are ignorant garage-computing kids who haven’t a clue what’s going on in the world or how big a role the Middle East and Iran play in US global politics.
I don’t think taking sides in public can do Twitter any good. And it doesn’t even have a business model yet.
An interesting article on the possible proofs that the twitter campaign is run by a selected group residing outside Iran and who hate the current government in Iran.
http://pakalert.wordpress.com/2009/06/16/proof-israeli-effort-to-destabilize-iran-via-twitter/
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