It turns out, in Farsi "Twitter" means "ex-dictator."

You have to wonder if Ahmadinejad has checked out Twitter, and if he went through the whole "what the hell do I need with a site that lets me tell the world what I had for lunch" sorta thing we all went through. ...Ha-ha. What a dick.

Mousavi's on there (@mousavi1388), and on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/mousavi). He never responds to my Superpokes, but it's kind of cool, check it out. But beware: in volatile times we should avoid Facebook gestures that might be interpreted as hostile acts...please, no "Mafia Wars" challenges or throwing sheep. It will be delicate, the digital rapprochement of our peoples.

It's easy to overestimate the influence of all things Twitter/Facebook/Youtube on events in Iran, of course the battle is being fought on the streets by real people, not by icons and avatars in 1s and 0s.

But if you haven't checked out http://twitter.com/#search?q=%23IranE... you're missing out on chilling real-time documentation of groundshaking events. Check that crazy shit out.

By Andy Cobb