Iran after the elections: 29 June

Hi - if you're here due to a Twitter update, check the bottom of the post.

I'll be updating this post throughout the day as events warrant.



One fairly important online development can be seen here:

That's right, the hashtag #Iranelection has dropped off the list of trending topics for the first time since the election. Apparently the BET Awards are going on right now and #Iranelection will surface a bit after they end, but it still shows how weak it has become in being able to be completely replaced like that. Those on Twitter may want to think about upping their posting frequency. As I wrote before, Twitter is more important than you may think.

Interesting to note that state-owned Press TV also covered the demonstrations yesterday, even mentioning Mousavi and election irregularities.

A tweet in Persian just now says that Mousavi supporters will gather from 6 pm today, going from Railway Square (Râh Ahan) to Tajrish Square.

This blog post has the same thing. Apparently this is to be a human chain. Note how huge the distance is between the two locations:


View Larger Map

That's Tajrish Square - now take Valiasr road all the way down west and south...keep going down until the road finally ends and you reach the railway station. That's a distance of 16 km or so as the crow flies, a bit more than that including all the twists and turns on the way.

Update: three hours after the first part of this post, #Iranelection has returned to the list of trending topics. It's currently in third place.



A video from yesterday's gathering inside Ghoba Mosque has been released; you may want to turn down the volume a tad if you have it up.



A few days ago there was an interview with Google's CEO that is definitely worth a read as he talks about the effects of technology on the current situation in Iran, concluding that better and better technology makes it increasingly more difficult for governments to hide their tracks. He also mentions that the huge media exposure probably contributed to a slight moderation by the government, which would probably have been much more iron-fisted if they had thought nobody was watching. I suspect Google is working on quickly getting the Persian translator out of alpha mode and into something a bit more robust.