ABSTRACT
From the advent of Iran’s Green Movement in 2009 to the Arab revolts that began with Tunisia in December 2010, a wealth of debates and discussions have ensued about the role of social media as an effective organizing tool in these movements. 2 Though the first flush of overwrought enthusiasm is long past, there is consensus that Facebook, Twitter, and other Web 2.0 applications, particularly on handheld devices, have been effective organizing tools against the slower moving security apparatuses of authoritarian states. The new technology has also helped social movements to tell their story to the outside world, unhindered by official news blackouts, unbothered by state censors, and unfiltered by the traditional Western media.
