A hot topic in the news overnight has been the involvement of the US State Department with Twitter and other social media networking sites, asking them to do what they can to ensure that Iranians can continue to communicate to the outside world.
Twitter was scheduled to be temporarily unavailable for maintenance this week but the State Department asked them to delay the maintenance and stay accessible. While unable to put off the updating indefinitely, Twitter but did postpone it, timed it to occur in the middle of the night in Iran, and was only down as brief a time as possible.
Yesterday’s question was: “What were you doing on when terrorists rerouted planes into the World Trade Center?”
Today’s question may well be: “What were you doing when the State Department asked Twitter to delay scheduled maintenance so that Iranians could continue to tweet to the world?”
Social Media’s Footprint on Our Lives, Our Business, and Our History
When the State Department acknowledges the impact of social media in such an overt way, you have witnessed a defining moment in history. Today’s Washington Post quotes an Iranian-American activist here in the US whose identity was protected for security reasons. The activist said, “The predominant information (from Iran) is coming from Twitter. They are relying on Iranians and others who are Twittering to get this information out to the mainstream media. A lot of people are coining what is happening in Iran as a Twitter revolution.”
If you are not using the powerful business marketing tools of social media such as Twitter to grow and enrich your business, then somehow you have chosen to stand still while today’s world moves rushing past you. Critics say that Twitter won’t be around tomorrow, but so what, neither will many of the other useful tools you take advantage of daily.
Twitter, and other social media tools, are a cultural train ride on a train that keeps picking up new train cars and new passengers and dropping off others. Where once big business was iconic, held on a pedestal, much of it is now held in suspicion. If you are reaching people today, it is because you have transformed your business marketing into something that looks and feels like personal messaging.
Sure, it’s a train ride and we can’t be certain where it will take us. But right now, this is working, clearly working in ways so powerful that most of us can’t fully fathom them. So, whatever you do, get on board. Don’t be left standing at the station!
