The sad decline of #iranelection tweets

Twitter is widely recognized for the role it has played in assisting the people of Iran in their struggle to regain their voice, lost in the 1979 Iranian Revolution. The tweets (Twitter messages) from supporters all around the world, particularly the United States, gave them hope, tactical and logistical information, and importantly, a megaphone to the outside world.

The volume of tweets was astonishing, producing never before seen numbers. It was so invaluable that our state department asked Twitter to postpone a critical scheduled system maintenance. Tens of thousands of tweets tagged with the hashtag #iranelection were being made each hour.

But, the chart (real-time here) above sadly tells the tale of the declining Twitter activity of this nascent second Iranian Revolution. We attribute part of it to the punishing crackdown by the Mullahs. The rest can be explained only by the short attention span of the media and its spectators. On to the next topic: Michael Jackson, which was enough to even snuff out most discussion of the Cap and Trade vote.

But, maybe, just maybe if our president would have “meddled,” and led a Reagan-like rallying cry, it might have kept the issue alive in the media, ignited the world beyond Twitter, to whole nations, to do more for the Iranian people. What could we have done more? We don’t know exactly. We never do. And we will never know.

The “hope” seems to be gone now, the once-in-a-generation chance for “change” gone. Inspiring, courageous leaders, who believe their words, make a difference.