From the tumult in Iran, Twitter emerges as a powerful social tool

Few of these tools, of course, are as effective as Twitter. While critics here have called Twitter a "feeder for the short attention span," it's the terse, frenetic nature of the site that makes it so useful. Users can communicate information quickly and clearly, and with minimal effort. More important, they can reach a much wider audience than with a simple Facebook profile update.

Overhyped?

Still, some remain unconvinced. Writing in Business Week, Joel Schectman downplayed the role of Twitter in the post-election protests. Schectman interviewed social media guru Gaurav Mishra, who said he found the concept of a Twitter revolution "suspect... The amount of people who use these tools in Iran is very small and could not support protests that size," he argued.

Although it's true that a relatively small amount of Iranians are actually using Twitter – the service does not yet accommodate Farsi – it's hard to overestimate the role that those few Iranian Twitter feeds have had here in the US. As the Iranian government continues to crack down on foreign journalists covering the post-election chaos, Twitter has emerged a major source of news – a voice from the back rooms, the bedrooms, and the streets.

'I wouldn't know a Twitter from a tweeter'

Just ask Secretary of State Hilary Clinton. Today, Clinton defended the US request that Twitter postpone a maintenance shutdown, so Iranians wouldn't lose access – even temporarily – to the site.

"The use of Twitter is a very important one, not only to the Iranian people but now increasingly to people around the world, and most particularly to young people," she said.

"I wouldn't know a twitter from a tweeter," she added, according to the Agence France-Presse. "But apparently it is very important."

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