Saturday morning brought unrest to the country of Iran after thousands of people claimed fraud in the country’s election held the previous day. The people flocked to the streets in protest of the results of the election as the government cut off most of the communication to the outside world. While traditional media by and large ignored the growing uprising in Iran on Saturday, the world relied on a non-conventional form of media to receive its information: Twitter. With cell phone service blocked and the press largely silenced, Iranians turned to Twitter to let the world know the details of the civil unrest in their country. Thousands of captivated followers from around the world tracked this uprising on Twitter, constantly hitting refresh for the latest tweet.

Twitter’s influence has never been more evident than it has been during this uprising. Not only has Twitter provided the Iranian’s a vessel to voice their opinions and spread the news of the uprising to the world, but American’s have used its power to effect the current news cycles. American tweeters, outraged that this story was not being covered on CNN, sparked the use of a hashtag (Twitter language for giving a subject title to your tweet so others can find it easier in a search) of #CNNFail. The effectiveness of this tag’s influence could be seen on Sunday as CNN’s coverage of Iranian uprising grew considerably.

That Twitter filled this void left by major media outlets for information on the Iranian uprising is only half the point. One of the biggest side stories of this is the continuing trend that when it comes to breaking news, Twitter is emerging as THE player in real time information on the internet. The question must now be asked, now that we’re in the 21st century and instant gratification is becoming the standard, is Twitter a viable news source? The answer is yes and no. Live tweets from events like Iranian uprising are raw, unfiltered and unconfirmed and should be taken with a gain of salt before it is assumed to be true. However one thing is for certain, with Twitter’s corner of the market in breaking news and with the subject matter being discussed on Twitter influencing major media outlets, the power is in the hands of the people like never before.

You can follow these Iranian tweeters as they tweet the minute by minute details of the uprising.

@change_for_iran
@persiankiwi
@stopahmadi
@iranriggedelect