Here's the latest 4MR audio report from MediaShift. In this week's special edition, I look at the way that social media have played a vital role in the breaking news happening in Iran after their contested presidential election. Though the government has cracked down on the opposition, censored the media and blocked websites and even text messaging, the news has continued to spread on Twitter, Facebook, Flickr and YouTube. And when CNN was seen as lax in coverage of Iran last weekend, the #CNNFail meme sprouted up on Twitter and they paid attention, increasing coverage the next day.
Check it out:
Background music is "What the World Needs" by the The Ukelele Hipster Kings via PodSafe Music Network
Here are some links to related sites and stories mentioned in the podcast:
#IranElection hashtag on Twitter
Iran Election Live-Blogging on Sunday at Huffington Post
Tehran Bureau independent website on Iranian news
#CNNFail: Twitterverse slams network's Iran absence at News.com
The Revolution Will Be Twittered by Andrew Sullivan
Dear CNN, Please Check Twitter for News About Iran at ReadWriteWeb
Cyberwar guide for Iran elections at BoingBoing
Iran Protest Videos on June 16, 2009 on YouTube
Here's a graphical view of last week's MediaShift survey results. The question was "What do you think about WSJ's social media guidelines?"
Also, be sure to vote in our poll about which websites you trust most for news about Iran.
Mark Glaser is executive editor of MediaShift and Idea Lab. He also writes the bi-weekly OPA Intelligence Report email newsletter for the Online Publishers Association. He lives in San Francisco with his son Julian. You can follow him on Twitter @mediatwit.
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1 comment so far, Add Yours
Greg Martin said:
June 22, 2009 5:50 PM
Social media content is tough to get a grip on. I find it difficult to keep track of all the different writers, sources and topics to track on Twitter. I've found the using TipTop's results makes finding the most relevant message content filtered by topics, categories and snippets broken down into positive and negative sentiment very helpful. For example a search on "Iran Protests" http://www.feeltiptop.com/iran%20protests/. You can even get a pulse on what the public is feeling via the overall Tips and Pits percentages.
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