Experts laud role of new media in Iranian protests: Via The Jerusalem Post – JPost.com .

Twitter's role in the recent Iranian protests has been exaggerated, but new media were crucial in enabling an online community within and beyond Iran to convey information to protesters otherwise shut off from independent news sources, according to new media experts.

After Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was declared the winner in Iran's controversial presidential election, supporters of rival Mir Hossein Mousavi organized their opposition using many online tools that helped coordinate rallies and provide coverage about the events in their country and the response around the world, noted members of a panel on Tuesday. The panel was hosted by the National Endowment for Democracy and the Center for International Media Assistance.

As the government cracked down on this online activity, the international press focused on the use of Twitter, which was harder to block due to its decentralized framework.

"I think the Twitter story has been greatly exaggerated," said Robert Faris, director of the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard University.
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