The Internet is shut down across Egypt. The Egyptian government is censoring Al Jazeera, the Middle East’s main broadcasting company, and yet all over the world, people can see a minute-by-minute update on the political action.
This is the power of Twitter.
Speak2Tweet launched Monday, giving the people of Egypt a way to bypass the government’s web lockdown.
This special service was created by Google, Twitter and Google’s recently acquired service “SayNow” that allows people on the ground in Egypt to call one of three different international numbers and leave a voicemail message, according to The Daily Caller website.
The voicemail is then published as a link to Twitter with the hashtag #Egypt. The hashtag before a word allows Twitter users to access all stories on the topic. Followers of @Speak2Tweet can then click the link to hear the original voicemail.
Twitter accounts are not required to use this service or view the website.
The official Google blog posted about their new technology saying, “We hope that this will go some way to helping people in Egypt stay connected at this very difficult time.”
Major news networks have also used Twitter to update viewers on the situation in Egypt.
Both CNN and The New York Times have created lists of people who are reporting directly from Egypt. The list includes both on location reporters and Egyptian citizens.
Twitter users can then follow the list as a whole, consolidating their sources for the latest Egypt news.
According to Marketing Gum, an online marketing blog, there are more than 105 million Twitter users worldwide and 60 percent of these are from outside of the U.S.
SMU also has its fair share of Twitter fans, many of whom have been actively using the social network to follow the latest Egypt protest news.
“I’m glad I have twitter to keep updated on the news especially when really important things are happening like right now in Egypt so when it comes up, I do have some idea of what I’m talking about,” junior Jordan Kragen said.
Twitter’s availability and constant updates make the site an ideal news source for busy college students.
“I like to stay informed of world news and twitter makes it easy to follow and stay updated without having to search for information online because of the constant tweets,” junior Christie Long said.
