As I was driving to the office the other day, a local radio personality offered a not-so-insightful observation regarding social media, Twitter in particular:
“I’ll give it (Twitter) another year…maybe,” he quipped.
Following what passes for an electoral process in Iran, in which the power of social media was in full display, I wonder if this guy still feels that way.
Following the election, the validity of which appears in question to a significant portion of the Iranian public, Twitter was buzzing with first-hand accounts of doings on the ground in Iran. Widespread accounts of violence and intimidation were on display for the world to see because, evidently, the Iranian censors missed Twitter when shutting down media access to the entire country.
What the Iranian government was doing, in effect, was putting Twitter front and center on the world stage. Since mainstream western media outlets such as Fox, CNN, BBC and MSNBC were denied the ability to produce first-hand reports on the election, broadcasting Twitter feeds live became a quick way to get some news out.
There even are some reports of cyber activists – “hacktivists” – disabling Iranian government sites and enabling web proxies to circumvent Iranian censors.
While many of us in the communications business are aware of the power of social media, it is fascinating to see just how strong it can be on the international stage.
You've probably heard that the US government asked that Twitter postpone a planned maintenance in order to continue the receipt of Tweets from Iran.
My clients also wonder if there's a place for Twitter and other social media in the marketing mix. And while we all continue to look for novel ways to incorporate these channels effectively, their value is becoming harder to deny.
There is value. We are starting to deploy more and more social media tactics on behalf of clients. It will soon become an expected part of the mix.