With members of the media kicked out of Iranian cities, millions joining in on protests, and violence erupting all across the turmoiled state, Iranians have been turning to Twitter, YouTube, Flickr, and other social tools to get the word out about what's happening on the ground.
Well, it looks like Twitter may have had someone pushing for it not to go down last night, during peak Iranian hours: the U.S. State Department
According to a CNN blog post, the U.S. government is connecting with Twitter and other major social media companies to make sure that the flow of information from Iran remains uninterrupted. While the Obama administration itself keeping out of the Iran controversy on official channels, it is making sure that information coming from people on the ground is getting through to the rest of the world.
The biggest revelation is that the State Department asked Twitter not to go down at its original time last night in order to allow Iranians to tweet out what's happening in their cities. It also seems that U.S. officials are watching the chatter on Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, and elsewhere to keep up-to-speed with the situation on the ground. Social media communication is even more important, since the U.S. has no embassy or official relationship with Iran.
If all of this is true, it demonstrates several things. First, the U.S. Government understands just how instrumental these web tools are to the #IranElection situation. Second, the U.S. government is actively using Twitter to monitor the situation on the ground in a way that even journalists can't match. And third, that it really wants everyone to know what's happening in Iran.
The U.S. may be keeping out of the politics of the Iran election crisis, but it's clear that it has a deep and vested interest in the streaming information coming out of Iran. It could even be that Twitter would not have rescheduled their downtime if not for the State Department. The outcome of these protests will have a significant effect on world relations though, so its actions do not surprise us.
If you are looking to better track what's going on in Iran, we suggest reading our in-depth article on the subject, HOW TO: Track Iran Election with Twitter and Social Media.