The politics of Twitter

Twitter is no longer just about sharing details of what you had for breakfast, or supporting the revolution in Egypt. The microblogging tool is now being used to further political agendas in a bid to make propaganda go viral

In July 2006, a microblogging service was launched to let us, with our increasingly short attention spans, communicate in less than 140 characters. Some cynicism, awe, reluctant admiration and a phenomenon of tweets later, Twitter is now five years older, and bigger than anyone had imagined.

People protest at the funeral of Sanee Zhaleh, a student who was shot
dead during an opposition rally in Tehran on February 16, 2011. Tehran
has been wrecked by clashes between the Iranian police and protesters,
who hope to evoke Egypt's recent uprising against hardline President
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who has claimed that Egyptians who toppled
President Hosni Mubarak took inspiration from Iran's 1979 Islamic
Revolution, which brought down a Western-backed monarchy.
@USAdarFarsi is a US State Department Twitter handle that criticizes
u00a0the hypocrisy of the Iranian government that disallows its citizens access
u00a0to rights it praised in Egypt. Pic/ AFP Photo

From being used to form public opinion to being part of political revolution itself, Twitter's 140 characters have become the most powerful tools in the English language today. Little wonder then, that the site is now being used to further political propaganda. After all, what better way to reach out to over five million people in an instant?

Iran
Sample @USAdarFarsi, a US State Department site that's been sending messages in Persian to Iranians, as a mark of support to the country's massive anti-government protests. This, after it recognised the historic role of social media among Iranians. "We want to join in your conversations," a tweet from the account said.

Why a US-backed Farsi Twitter feed for Iranians? Ever since its launch on February 12, @USAdarFarsi has been steadily criticising the Iranian government for restricting Internet access, and the hypocrisy of disallowing its citizens the access to rights and developments it praised in Egypt. Today, it has 4,642
followers.

Tweets range from "By announcing that they will not give permission for its opponents to demonstrate, the government of Iran is showing that the very activities that it praised for Egyptians it sees as illegal and illegitimate for its own people" to "The US calls on the government of Iran to allow its own people to enjoy the same universal rights to peacefully assemble, demonstrate and communicate that are being exercised in Cairo."

North Korea
In a similar vein, but with a totally different stated purpose, is @uriminzok, North Korea's twitter feed for propaganda against long-time rival, South Korea. After taking to YouTube and Facebook, Pyongyang's @uriminzok freely praises leader Kim Jong-Il, while criticising South Korea and the United States.

Meaning 'our nation', uriminzok has been blocked by Seoul, and already has 11,000-plus followers. Most tweets denounce the United States and Seoul, and carry links to more criticism of the two nations at the Pyongyang's official website, www.uriminzokkiri.com. Difficult to understand unless you speak Korean, but you get the general drift.

The White House
And then there's www.tweetthewhitehouse.com, started in 2010, asking President Obama to commit $6 billion over the next three years to the Global Fund. How this works, though, is interesting. In a bid to make the URL go viral, the site asks you for permission to have the 'ability to access and update your data on Twitter'-- effectively, asking you for permission to let it spam (although you are assured that feeds will be occasional, we've seen enough propaganda to believe that) other people under your name. Certainly the most creative use of Twitter we've seen so far!