You are on page 1of 19

SOCIAL MEDIA &

#IRANELECTION
Analysis of the Social Media Response Iranian Election
June 2009

DIGITAL 1
BACKGROUNDER
•  Key Players: Incumbent President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
Reformist candidate Mir-Hossein Mousavi
•  Situation: Ahmadinejad claimed victory in presidential
elections with more than two-thirds of the votes.
However, Mousavi and other reformists claimed major voting
irregularities occurred. Peaceful, then eventually violent
protests occurred when hundreds of thousands Iranians took
to the streets of Tehran.
•  Media: Due to the heavy censorship of mainstream media, citizen
journalists relied on social media, such as Twitter and
YouTube, to communicate the situation to both Iranians and
the outside world in real time.

Timeframe (for this analysis) June 13-June 29, 2009


2
MILESTONE TIMELINE
•  June 13 Ahmadinejad wins the presidential election
•  June 14 Mousavi askes Iran's Guardian Council to cancel the election result
•  June 15 At least seven people are killed on the fringes of a large march by
Mousavi supporters in central Tehran
•  June 16 Authorities ban foreign journalists from leaving their offices to cover
street protests
•  June 17 Thousands of Iranians march in quiet defiance in central Tehran
•  June 19 Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khameini speaks at religious
services, upholding the legitimacy of the election and denouncing the
protesters. Protests continue but on a diminished scale
•  June 20 Neda Agha Soltan, a young Iranian woman observing the protests,
is shot by the militia and died in front of cameras- her image
becomes the face of the protests
•  June 29 Guardian Council certifies the results of the election

3
SOCIAL MEDIA
“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.”
- Andrew Sullivan

5
CONTENT SUMMARY
Overview

utilized for second by second updates on events


in Iran and a communication network inside Iran

broadcast videos of major events unfolding in Iran in


the days after the elections

supplied up to the minute information educating the


world about the aftermath of the Iranian
elections

displayed thousands of images from inside Iran capturing


the riots, protests and violence for worldwide viewers
6
TWITTER
Facts

•  Twitter emerged as one of the leading sources for real-time information in the
day after the Iran elections
•  Twitter was used primarily in two ways
–  To disseminate information about what was happening on the ground
–  To communicate between Iranian protestors about events, meetups and
election related news
•  The conversation on Twitter primarily took place around the hashtags
#iranelection and #gr88
•  #CNNFail Twitter users criticized large news outlets, primarily CNN, early-on
on for not adequately providing complementary coverage of the situation.

7
THE BUZZ

8
TWITTER
Initial Figures

Twitter by the Numbers


•  At the peak, there were more than
200,000 tweets in one hour
mentioning “Iran”
•  Frequently, 10,000 to 50,000 tweets
including the term “#iranelection”
occurred each hour
•  Nearly 1%of all conversations on
Twitter in the days following the
elections included mentions of the
conflict in Iran
•  During many cycles, Twitter
conversations about Iran exceeded
those about the iPhone launch in the
same time period 9
TWITTER
Final Figures

Twitter by Numbers
•  More than two weeks after the election, #iranelection and “Iran” continued
to be trending topics on Twitter
•  The conversations peak with any major developments, such as Neda or
student arrests
•  The conversation lifecycle days and weeks following the event represent
sustained, heavy coverage

10
YOUTUBE
Facts

•  YouTube served as the primary distribution channel for video on Iranian events
after Ahmadinejad claimed victory
•  The site allowed citizen journalists to upload mostly unfiltered content to the site
to be viewed by its millions of followers
•  Although the site appeared to be blocked in Iran, videos still surfaced that
captured the chaos and violence at the protests
•  The videos generated millions of views worldwide even as Iranian traffic was
diminished by almost 90% in the weeks after the election
•  The most infamous video was taken of Neda Agha Soltan as she died from a
gunshot wound to the chest at one of the protests
•  Top search terms for finding relevant videos were “Iran riots” ; “Iran protests” ;
“Iran election 2009”
•  Top channels for viewing related videos was “Irandoost09” and “IranianNews”.
11
YOUTUBE
Figures

YouTube by Numbers

•  As of June 30, 2009,193,000


videos related to Iran on YouTube
•  On this day alone, there were more
than 3,000 videos uploaded in a
24 hour period.
•  The most popular video about the
Iranian elections and aftermath has
had has more than nearly 400,000
views one week since it’s posting
•  This video is also the number one
most viewed video in YouTube’s
News & Politics the week it was
posted
12
BLOGS
Facts

•  During the post election protests, blogs provided information primarily in two
ways:
–  Live blogging by credible sources aggregated the news on Iran in one, easy
to access location with content streams longer than the 140 character limit
bound to by Twitter
–  Blogs allowed sources from inside Iran to post what was happening on the
ground, in close to real time
•  Revolutionary Road was touted (by Mashable) as being the top blog from
inside Iran.
•  The top non native sources for live blogging about Iran, Nico Pitney’s work at
the Huffington Post and Andrew Sullivan at the Daily Dish.
•  Blogs also accounted for the distillation of links and word of mouth content
across the online space, allowing for authentic and spontaneous discussion
around the politics of the election
13
BLOGS
Figures

Blogs by Numbers

•  More than 21 million blog posts


related to Iran are were listed on
Google BlogSearch in the days
following the election
•  Early in the aftermath, blog
mentions of Iran far out numbered
traditional news stories, according to
Google searches
•  In a staggering figure, nearly 12% of
blog post the first week after the
election related to Iran

14
FLICKR
Facts
Images from inside Iran told the true story.

•  Flickr was the most popular site for hosting


these images for audiences beyond Iran
•  Digital photos heightened the reality of the
citizen journalist and were uploaded and
viewed at a staggering rate
•  Search terms for finding these photos are
“Iran Elections” and “Iran Riots 2009”
•  The term Iran Election garners more than
11,000 photographic hits on Flickr

15
IMPLICATIONS
THE BIG PICTURE
Implications

What the Iranian election reaffirms about social media


The absence of censorship allows for incredible ease of use
The social media tool box allows for ordinary citizens to create their own content, share that
content with world and remain virtually anonymous while doing so. Circumventing traditional
news sources also means circumventing state sponsored media and foreign media restrictions.

The timeliness of access


Ease of production and unfiltered content makes sharing information both nearly instant and
seamless. These characteristics not only make news more relevant but also make connecting
on the ground easier when traditional communication channels are disrupted.

The fragmentation of interests


Niche interests find their way into social media conversations. Without a gatekeeper or
expensive barriers to content sharing, social media makes the news more personal. Readers
and viewers can choose content that fits their interests, such as women’s rights or educational
norms, within the larger story.

17
THE BIG PICTURE
Implications

What does this mean for traditional news media?


Collaboration:
“The combination amounts to the biggest embrace yet of a collaborative new style of news
gathering one that combines the contributions of ordinary citizens with the reports and analysis
of journalists.” – from the New York Times

Accountability:
#CNNFail demonstrates that social media harness increasing power to keep major news
organizations accountable. Previous journalism models emphasized the power of the editor as
the primary gatekeeper. The news agenda, however, is no longer dictated by editorial staff and
is increasingly defined by the public. News orgs face an incredible, but necessary ,pressure to
align media coverage with public interest

Timeliness v. Accuracy
Social media heightens the urgency of the continuous news cycle, which creates a challenge for
trusted news sources to balance timely news coverage with accurate, trusted reporting and
analysis.
18
THE BIG PICTURE
Implications
What does this mean for PR?

Relevance:
In the very least, the social media storm following Iran’s elections demonstrates the strengths of
social media in a crisis: speed, unfiltered content, community engagement and widespread
dissemination. The Iran crisis has further emphasized the relevance of social media. Audiences are
utilizing these tools to gather and disseminate information and to ultimately build a movement.

Proficiency
The relevance of social media makes it increasingly important that PR pros demonstrate digital
proficiency. Iran reveals, in a way that only a crisis can, that social media is a communications
strategy not merely a tactic. Harnessing the power of a viral community to galvanize public opinion
and produce results is essential to the future of PR.

Engagement
“In handling global issues where public opinion is formed as quickly as a Facebook group,
communicators must immerse themselves in these techniques and strategies, and use them not just
as a defensive position against protesters, but as a part of their offensive strategy. “ – from PRWeek
19

You might also like