Iran's 'Twitter revolution' was exaggerated, says editor

It was described as the "Twitter revolution", but almost a year on from Iran's disputed presidential elections, during which the use of social media by the opposition movement made headlines around the world, such claims
prompt wry smiles from seasoned observers.

Carried away by the enthusiasm of the protests, tens of thousands of Twitter users across the world switched their locations to Tehran in an attempt to confuse
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's henchmen. The US state department official who
persuaded Twitter to delay a technical upgrade of its software so that
it didn't occur during a protest was described as the "man who saved Iran". And a former aide to George Bush even suggested awarding Twitter the Nobel peace prize for its role in the Iran crisis.

Such hyperbole reveals more about western fantasies for new media than the reality in Iran, argues Hamid Tehrani, the Persian editor of the blogging network Global Vo....

"The west was focused not on the Iranian people but on the role of western technology," he says. "Twitter was important in publicising what was
happening, but its role was overemphasised."

Tehrani estimates that there were fewer than 1,000 active Twitter users in Iran at the time of the election. "Some people did provide updates from Tehran, but
many didn't check out. When someone tweeted that there were 700,000
people demonstrating in front of a mosque, it turned out that only
around 7,000 people showed up."

The Oxfordshire-based Iranian writer who only gives her Twitter name Oxfordgirl was a prominent and much-followed source during the protests. She insists that in some instances Twitter did help organise protests by
warning demonstrators about the presence of security forces. "I'm still
getting information from people I know in Iran from Twitter, but it is
not such an easy flow," she concedes.

Other forms of social media played a perhaps more important role than Twitter. Victoria Grand, YouTube's head of policy and communication, says that during the
protests "people were holding up their cameras as it were a sword in a
way. They really understood that if you can get the global community to
see what's happening that will be your greatest defence".

That may also be overstating the case given the violent suppression of the protests. But even those wary of western exaggeration concede that
sharing mobile phone footage was crucial. "YouTube was important,
because so many people watched the videos … It was living proof of what
happened and it's difficult to fake, despite what the Iranian
government claimed," says Tehrani.

"Without Iranian citizen media, people would never have seen Neda's face, or other Iranians killed and beaten, or defying the security forces," he says, referring
to Neda Soltan, the young woman whose death was broadcast on YouTube.

Annabelle Sreberny, professor in global media and communications at London's School of Oriental and African Studies, agrees. "Twitter was massively
overrated. But spaces like YouTube and Facebook have been very
important for sharing information."

But Sreberny, who is organising a conference next week on the role of non-conventional media in Iran, adds: "I wouldn't argue that social media really mobilised Iranians themselves – the protest were best organised using SMS."

The importance of social media is perhaps best illustrated by the government's response to it. Many sites have been filtered or blocked
in Iran, including YouTube and Facebook. The speed of the internet was also deliberately slowed down. And Prominent bloggers, like the former vice-president Mohammad Ali Abtahi,
were among those first arrested. More recently the so-called Iranian
cyber army has attacked reformist websites, and the organisers have had
their computer files deleted.

In the cat-and-mouse game between the regime and its opponents online, the government has gained the upper hand in the last few months.

"Some of the best websites are now outside Iran," says Sreberny. "Many people have run away, so in that sense the 'mice' are more spread."

The turning point was 11 February, when the opposition attempted to hijack the 31st anniversary celebrations of the 1979 revolution. The event turned out to be a show
of strength for the security forces and the government's supporters. As
Tehrani says, "People began to realise they should pay more attention
to the reality on the ground and not become imprisoned by the visual
bubble created online. The cornerstone of this movement is not
technology, it's people."

Sreberny has a different explanation. "By February the demand for a recount had gone. It wasn't just that the regime had become more vicious, the opposition movement also needed a
breathing space to work out what its key demands are," she says.

The next few days and weeks are seen as crucial to the opposition as it marks the anniversary of the election and Neda's death. Oxfordgirl
says: "The big test will be whether there's a significant protest on
the anniversary. I don't think there will be protest on the same scale
as last year. But in a way they don't need to happen, because they were
a catalyst that created a great deal of change within the regime."