Iran and World Journalism: The Day Content Nation Declared its Middle East Citizenship

It was a time that was waiting to happen. Already, just a few short weeks ago, we saw social media tools gaining the spotlight for their ability to highlight fast-breaking events in the wake of EU parliamentary elections in Moldova, as covered on this blog. The rapidity with which a relatively small group of activists equipped with social media tools could motivate world opinion caught the eyes of some for a few days, but not surprisingly the storm of global interest died away. This time, it may not be as easy to forget the scale of influence that captures world attention as people in the Islamic Republic of Iran have declared their citizenship in Content Nation more loudly, more proudly and with greater impact than in any previous political confrontation.

The people of Iran and other nations in which Islam is a key element of their culture are no strangers to social media, as highlighted in several examples in the Content Nation book. Unlike the handful of people in Moldova who used social media tools to help organize protests, Iran has a widely educated population well aware of social media technologies who have used them to put the focus on events in the wake of that nation's recent elections. Wikipedia estimates that there are more than 700,000 bloggers in Iran, with about 40,000 to 100,000 of those being used actively to communicate thoughts with others. Add in Facebook, Twitter, photo and video posting sites and a wealth of other social media publishing tools and it was inevitable that thousands of people in Iran would be chronicling what has happening in that nation in real-time - at a pace that some are saying has upstaged some traditional media outlets for impact, authenticity and  completeness.

Have mainstream media outlets dropped the ball on Iran coverage? Certainly reports from the BBC, AFP, Al Jazeera's foreign language services and other key outlets with front-line reporters and stringers have been instrumenal channels for distributing information on fast-paced events in Iran to people around the world. But with members of Twitter circulating message tags such as #CNNfail, U.S.-centric social media mavens are questioning whether the U.S. news outlets that used to go after many live controversies with greater vigor are more interested in serving up filler between ads than in delivering quality news coverage. At a time at which U.S. television news outlets are expected to deliver revenues much as any entertainment outlet, with as few resources as possible deployed to cover breaking news, the question tends to answer itself. The real question, however, is whether mainstream news organizations have the influence and authority to act as the most trusted "go-to" sources for learning about these events.

On this front Content Nation is clearly in the lead, with many social media outlets becoming the first points of contact, both for obtaining coverage of live events and for aggregating and editing unfolding coverage of events. The award-winning blog of Michael J. Totten, for example, provided a continuously updated post with links, videos, summaries and first-hand accounts of recent events in Iran, while Wikipedia contributors assembled in rapid-fire order a great page of links to authoritative accounts, worldwide reactions and accounts from both sides of the controversial election results. Content Nation is not content to send individual thoughts and messages to one another; social media's ability to aggregate, edit and organize information from many sources has outpaced traditional media outlets rapidly. Individual news outlets still do a professional job at aggregation, but social media's ability to look at information from all sources with a more disaffiliated eye for specific audiences often gives it the jump on aggregating information on breaking news when people are passionate about being a part of Content Nation's global influence.

More importantly, though, is that social media continues to enable everyday citizens to communicate with one another in trying circumstances to help them to receive information, to form opinions and to take action. Sometimes this information comes from unlikely channels. The Flickr photo posting service, for example, was used not only to post photos of events in the streets of Iran's cities but also to convey images of documents from key figures in Iranian politics conveying their reaction to events to their fellow citizens. With social media tools that help to collect links to such resources, it becomes possible to create a global bulletin board that guides people towards the most relevant sources of information that help them to decide on courses of action.

Whatever the full scope and lasting impact of events in Iran may bring, the past few days mark the first time that a nation in the Middle East has captured the attention and the imagination of the world to such a broad degree through social media communications. The fact that these events happened in a nation of more than 70 million people - a nation as large as Content Nation itself - only underscores the reality that institutions of all sizes must respond to the power of social media. Be it local interests, Western or Asian interests or whatever nation may be involved, Content Nation is reminding us that no culture is exempt from the influence of the millions of people around the world who have decided to declare their citizenship alongside people of all walks of life in all nations. The photo posts, messages, blogs and personal pages of these citizens of Content Nation now challenge them to recognize that political events may come and go, but once empowered by social media there can be no turning back to an age in which communications from anyone could not have both global and local impact far beyond the reach of any traditional news outlet. The importance of these people is far more profound than the self-importance of anyone else declaring them to be important.

What do you think about the impact of social media on events in Iran? Add your comments below!