US military hijacks social media

The United States military is developing software that will let it secretly manipulate social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter by using fake online personas to influence Internet conversations and spread pro-American propaganda.

A Californian corporation has been awarded a contract with US Central Command (CENTCOM), which oversees US armed operations in the Middle East and Central Asia, to develop what is described as an "online persona management service" that will allow one US serviceman or woman to control up to 10 separate identities based all over the world.

The project has been likened by Web experts to China's attempts to control and restrict free speech on the Internet. Critics are likely to complain that it will allow the US military to create a false consensus in online conversations, crowd out unwelcome opinions and smother commentaries or reports that do not correspond with its own objectives. (Source)

Original picture courtesy Evan Vucci/AP

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Announcing my low traffic Twitter Feeds: The Two's

For almost a year, I have run a dozen Twitter accounts which are automatically fed with the latest posts from several of my blogs. Most of these Twitter accounts broadcast a dozen updates per hour.

Some people like the abundant stream of information, but others wanted less frequent tweets.

As an experiment, I have now released "The Two's": a series of Twitter accounts broadcasting the same information as the "main accounts", but at a far lower pace: 2 Tweets per Hour (or 2 tph ;-) ).

Each has the name of the "main account", with a "2" added to it. To show the link to the "main accounts", the Twitter icon features a large "2" too (toodeloo).
These accounts will not be monitored for direct messages or replies, for which you will have to go to its related main Twitter account.
Each tweet of the "Two's" will refer to its main account with a "via @mainaccount" in the suffix.

As a reference, here is a full overview of the Twitter accounts I manage, with the blog they refer to, and -if applicable- its low traffic account:

• AidNews tweets via @AidNews and low traffic via @AidNews2 (Aid related news tweets)
• AidResources tweets via @AidResources and low traffic via @AidResources2 (Resource material for those interested in aid and development)
• Humanitarian News tweets via @HumanityNews and low traffic via @HumanityNews2 (for any updates published on Humanitarian News
• You and Us and Me tweets via @NewsOnGreen and low traffic via @NewsOnGreen2 (Tweets about the environment, green living and other eco-related stuff)
• The NonProfit Blogs tweets via @NonProfitBlogs and low traffic via @NonProfitBlogs2 (all updates from an extensive list of over 700 nonprofit blogs)

For the following Twitter accounts, there are no changes:

• The Road to the Horizon tweets via @TheRoadTo (the main Twitter account I work with)
• AidBlogs tweets via @AidBlogs (Tweets the latest posts from aidworker blogs)
• BlogTips tweets via @BloggerTip (everything related to blogging)
• Blogging Today tweets via @BloggingToday (tweets updates related to blogging and social media)
• The Weird Bit tweets via @TheWeirdBit (one of my "fun" accounts: it tweets the 'funny' and 'weird' news)

Do know if you subscribe to one of the "Two" Twitter accounts, you will miss updates as I can never get as far as I need to keep up with the frequency of the posts at 2 "tph"...

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Picture of the day: Twitter from Space

This picture from the Aurora Australis, or the "Southern Lights" above Antarctica was taken by an astronaut. While aboard the International Space Station, @Astro_Wheels posted it via Twitter on TwitPic.

I guess he was using wireless. :-)

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Honourable mentions on Twitter

Yeepee, I got four mentions at the list of "100 terrific twitter feeds for humanitarians" on AlertNet and OnlineDegreePrograms for:

• @TheRoadto, my personal Twitter feed; 
• @AidBlogs, the Twitter feed collecting the latest blogs from aidworkers; 
• @AidNews, the aggregator for aid related news. 
• @HumanityNews, the feed for my mega-collector of hard articles in the soft sector.

With thanks to the authors for the honours!

If you still doubt what social media can do for your blog, for your non-profit organisation, for your advocacy causes, have a look at BlogTips, where I publish my findings on social media for non-profits. It also features a tutorial on Twitter.

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Use Twitter Offline In 3 Easy Steps

Now that Twitter, the all-praised social networking tool, is going into its 2nd day limping on one leg after yesterday's hacker attack, it is time to fall back onto proven technology: Twitter's Offline Utility...

Step 1:




Step 2:




Step 3:




Discovered via B3TA (Tnx Mau!)

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Twitter versus #iranelection - the cartoons

The buzz about the role of social media in Iran inspired a series of cartoons:















Here is an other cartoon about Iran and social media.
View more Iran Election cartoons on The Road.

Cartoons courtesy Boston Globe (Mike Luckovich, Walt Handelsman, Wasserman, Matt Davies, Danzinger), John Cole, Alf Miron

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#CNNfail: CNN versus Twitter on the Iran protests

Since the onset of the post-election violence in Teheran on Saturday, Iranian Twitter-ers have been using two main tags to identify their updates: #iranelection and #CNNfail.

The latter was to protest the lack of coverage of the protests by the mainstream traditional media, of which CNN took the brunt. The #CNNfail tag became so popular that US broadcaster found it necessary to take a defensive stand (or was it a justification?) on the air:



Did he just say 'we should be transparent'? He actually said this on CNN? Wooohahahaha. The words "transparent" and "CNN" should never be used within the same sentence.

I find it hilarious CNN is pushed into a corner and actually finds it useful to prove "we have covered this as of F-R-I-D-A-Y. And here is the video clip to prove it!"

By the way, Twitter scheduled a 90 minutes maintenance on Monday, which upset all the Twitter-ers in the Iran protests and beyond, making #nomaintenance the 3rd most used tag for a while...
Update: It worked! Twitter has rescheduled its planned downtime for tonight.

Related posts:
Who is on Twitter from Iran?
Social media buzzing after elections in Iran

Video discovered via The Huffington Post

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Who is on Twitter from Iran?

Updated June 22 2009



Here is the updated list of Twitter-ers on the ground in Iran:

Full Post +/-

@4myppl @abzole @adoostdar @alirezasha @anonymousiniran @avahedi @azarnoush @bahadorn @Bahram81 @bta_f @Change_for_Iran @duckdaotsu @fafamx @farnamb @Ghattavi @gita (protected) @hamednz @huti_421 @iran09 @iranbaan @IranElection09 @IranPishi @IranRiggedElect @IranUltimatum @jadi @jimsciuttoABC (left?) @jubinahdi @knv @LaraABCNews @madyar @mahdi (protected) @mehri912 @mhrshd @MiladRevolution @mohamadreza (protected) @mohandesalireza @monshi @mousavi1388 @Mynumberone1988 @mtux (protected) @openiran @parastoo @parhamdoustdar @persiankiwi @pleasesaveiran @PouyanA @ralavi @ramezanpour (protected) @SadeqEn (protected) @sasan_j @Shahrzadmo @smileofcrash @StopAhmadi @TehranBureau @tehranelection @VoiceofIran @willyong @WhereIsMyVoteIr @zahrahb

For a good real-time overview of the latest Twitter updates and news overview on the post-election protests, check Twazzup.

Update: June 19
There has been an active debate on other blogs and websites whether or not we should publish this list. See also the comments on this post.
Do we put people's lives in danger? I asked some of the Twitterers in Iran, but did not get an answer.
My view is: Nobody in Iran will come onto a public medium unless they consciously choose to do so. All of them hide their real identity, and actively request people to re-broadcast the information they are giving from the ground, especially as the traditional media have been put on restraint.
An interesting post on this subject, you find on the Traveller Within.

Update: June 20
On my own initiative, I deleted those who did not seem to take enough precautions in hiding their identity.

Update: June 22
On the same topic, this tweet came out today: "@shahrzadmo: State TV: Send your videos to Police so they recognise the "rioters" and arrest them!"... Does this also mean bloggers around the world should not republish YouTube videos from the protests, so people don't get identified?

For an overview of the role of social media in "post-election Iran", check this post.

Input thanks to h3x.no, reddit.com, Mohamed, Simon, Daily Dish and fellow twitter users.

Picture courtesy Madyar

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Social media buzzing after the Iran elections

Updated June 20 2009



Something is brewing in Iran. And the people are reporting.

Thousands of angry protesters have clashed with police in several cities in Iran after President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was declared the winner of Iran's presidential poll. He claims victory over his rival Mir Hossein Mousavi, who called the results a "charade". (Full)

As violence broke out, the mobile phone network was switched off for hours and Internet connectivity was either interrupted or slow at least. Still, in what seems to become a school example of crowdsourced reporting at its best, individuals got their messages out through different social media channels.

Twitter is abuzz with on-the-ground reports directly from Iran by @madyar, @mohamadreza and @IranRiggedElect to name a few. Many of the tweets contain direct updates, local news, eyewitness reports, and pictures directly posted on Twitpic way before the mainstream media picked up. (The up to date list of all Twitterers in Iran, you find in this post)
New "special occasion" Twitter accounts like @Change_for_Iran got 4,000 followers in the first 12 hours.

Even foreign correspondents like @thomas_erdbrink (deleted his account), ABC correspondents Jim Sciutto and @LaraABCNews resort to Twitter when they can not get their official messages out, and to assemble information.



Tweets about the elections are tagged "#iranelection" so they can easily be searched and followed. #iranelection quickly shot to the most popular tag on Twitter.

The blogosphere is on a high run too. Iran News, Teheran bureau and Revolutionary Road are some examples of the bloggers active from different places in Iran, giving "liveblogging" a whole new meaning.

Other Iranian bloggers seem to be as active on the streets as in the Blogosphere. IranElections even features a picture of the imprints of police battons on his back and arms. Tehran Live posts excellent pictures.

Online blog coverage is available via blog giants Huffington Post and The Daily Dish. Global Voices does an excellent job in translating Tweets and blogs covering the post-elections'turmoil from Farsi to English, while expat Iranian bloggers are using their in-country connections to keep up. - check out NiacINsight.

There is a flood of pictures coming in on Flickr (look at Iran Streets After Elections) and plenty of videos taken from mobile phones posted on YouTube.



Facebook has been trying to keep up, even though access to the most popular social media resource was said to be blocked in Iran after the elections. There is the opposition leader Mousavi's Facebook page, with comments mostly in Farsi and page of the student movement. For English exchanges, check Where is my vote?

Meanwhile, social bookmarking sites start what they do best: spreading the links to the actual news resources. This thread on Reddit even contains tips on how to access Facebook from inside Iran, bypassing the government firewall.

As we get into the second day of protests, aggregators like Twazzup present an overview of the incoming flow of crowdsourced information. Check this out: Twazzup's Iran page. (Tnx for the tip, Uli!)

While foreign reporters and camera crews have their equipment confiscated, it looks like the authorities are trying to take a grip on the country again.

I wonder with the proliferation of social media if crowdsourced reporting will be or can be muffled. Short of disconnecting Iran from the international telephone network and pulling the plug on the Internet completely, it seems there is no stopping.

As the Daily Dish puts it in The Revolution will be Twittered:

That a new information technology could be improvised for this purpose so swiftly is a sign of the times. It reveals in Iran what the Obama campaign revealed in the United States. You cannot stop people any longer. You cannot control them any longer. They can bypass your established media; they can broadcast to one another; they can organize as never before.

Picture courtesy Revolutionary Road

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Google thinks I have more important things to say than Obama and Oprah combined

Google scans billion webpages several times per day. They give a numerical value to each webpage called "Pagerank", or "PR" for short.

The Pagerank is a sophisticated algorithm which indicates how 'valuable', or 'important' a webpage is. A PR varies from 0 to 10. The higher a PR, the more relevant a webpage is. There are millions of pages of a PR0, while there are just a handful with a PR10.

I just discovered Google valued my low key Twitter microblog much higher than the official Twitter blogs from Oprah and Barack Obama combined.

Source: PRchecker.info

My Twitter blog was pageranked 5, while Oprah's was 3 and poor Barack's Twitter blog got a PR0 (Yep, that is '0' like 'zero', 'nothing', 'ziltch'). Each of them have over a million of people reading their Twitter updates. I only have 419 'followers'.

Actually, I rated higher than the world's most popular Twitter blogs. Here are the most popular Twitter accounts:


Source: Twitterholic
You might ask yourself why Google rated me higher than the star of the world' most popular show (that is Oprah, not Obama), and the US president? Is it because I mostly write about humanitarian issues?

So would it be fair to say that for Obama and Oprah would start increasing their Twitter relevance if they'd emphasize humanitarian issues?

Now that's a thought!

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