Jornadas Cordoba

As Iran's government cracks down on traditional media after the country's disputed presidential election, tech-savvy Iranians have turned to the microblogging site Twitter.

In Iran, as in many still-developing countries, Internet usage is mostly still a phenomenon of the affluent, the youth and city-dwellers — meaning Twitter and other networks are used mostly by the young and liberal — and may overemphasize their numbers while ignoring more-conservative political sentiments among the non-connected.

Iranians must outsmart government blocking to use Twitter, on which users post messages limited to 140 characters called "tweets." Twitter and other social-networking sites remained blocked Monday in Iran. Users must go to other sites that post tweets for them and allow them to read tweets from others.

To assist people in accepting change, a concept called the "Change Acceptance Curve" can be applied. Basically the change acceptance curve states there are five steps individuals initiate when encountering change: awareness, self-concern, mental tryout, hands-on trail, and acceptance.

According to the Guide, the number of social network users grew 25% between June 2007 and June 2008. Further, as of June 2008, social network users represented 67% of all Internet users, as more than one-fifth of adults around the world visit social networking Web sites. source: FPR

Students will use Facebook to explore new forms of self-expression and “impression management” (control over how and by whom one is viewed), communicate with other students (instead of email, AIM, or audio-phone), organize events locally and beyond, maintain friendships outside of their institutions, communicate with friends and family at home, and increasingly, engage in academic or course-related work.

some students do find themselves spending "too much time" on Facebook.

Social networking sites offer the tools to level the playing field from the old hierarchical, top-down structure of the corporate era to the new, horizontal, and collaborative structure taking form on the world wide web.

controversy

foremost is the claim of distraction