Owen Frager's compelling review of Social Media's significance:
As Iranians defy Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's warning that there will be blood on the streets of Tehran if there are continued protests, it's now clear that there are indeed extensive protests going on in Iran — and the latest is that two of the key social media sites on the Internet now have reports saying opposition candidate Hossein Mousavi who was earlier reported to be detained is now on the streets and has told demonstrators “I am ready for death.”
It's taken a revolution over there for everyone over here to finally acknowledge the revolution over here called social media- mainly Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.
Without these social media tools we'd still be left in the dark about the events in Iran.
And If you are like most people you've probably heard the word Twitter so much right now to the point where your calling guys like me to find out what it's all about. Let me share what I told a friend who joined today:
Think of it as a soap box and everyone has their own station. If you attract followers they will get your 140 character pearls of wisdom and vice versa and maybe pass it on to their sphere of influence. (kind of alike a new morning paper customized for you).
But at the minimum you need an account to send messages to others with accounts- mainly letters to the editors- so if you want to “weigh in” and have your voice heard (perhaps on TV) this is the universal letter to the editor writer you'd use.
If you are in corporate gig you could establish yourself as an industry expert/spokesman and your tweets would be the sound bytes they'd seek out when looking for guests or editorial fill on the current reporting. From that you might get exposure and a job or business offer. That's the biz upside of it.
All I can tell you is that in few short months on Twitter I've attracted over 1000 followers with no contests, gimmicks or tricks. The resulting inbound feed created has given me access to all kinds of information and articles, providing content for my blog, daily doses of continuing education and the opening of networks with easy access to just about anyone who is who.
A year ago I read an article about Web Moguls who cashed out young on great ideas and the writer wondered what they could do for act two. For Ev, the creator of Twitter who made his money selling his previous invention blogger to Google, Twitter wasn't about money but about a legacy money can't buy. And that's changing the web so the web can change the world. He must be very fulfilled seeing his vision come alive this weekend.