I was going through the stats for BreakingTweets.com today, as I often do, and something popped out at me. A huge drop in traffic from Iran.
I took a closer look, paged through past days, and soon learned that's because the site's been blocked in Iran. Here's the details ---
We've been covering developments in Iran since the controversial presidential election on June 12. And we've been getting hundreds of hits from Iran every day...up until Thursday.
On Wednesday, we had our usual hits from Tehran University and other places throughout the country, per host network stats and other information from Google Analytics.
But Thursday, our usual visitors via Google, Twitter, and other sites -- none could get through. The bounce rate all of a sudden began appearing at 100% and time on the site showed as 0:00. This was in contrary to stats for previous days, when the bounce and time numbers were wide-ranging.
The same was true for Friday and Saturday. Though Saturday, one person got through. Network location? Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Tehran.
It seems the last article BT posted before the block was this updated timeline of events on Wednesday. Also Wednesday, Poynter wrote this article about Breaking Tweets' coverage of Iran. Coincidence? Who knows.
It feels weird to know my site has been blocked in a foreign country. Even weirder during the current conflict. And I have to admit, it hurts. One reason I've been relentless with the coverage, posting daily updates, is knowing that this information could get to Iran and inform people whose government is hiding critical info. Now, they can't come to BT anymore.
At least Iran can't censor our Twitter account.
Sunday, June 28, 2009
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3 comments on "BreakingTweets.com blocked in Iran"
I would consider this a big accomplishment on your part; bitter sweet yes, but it just goes to prove that Breaking Tweets was breaking grounds somewhere.
The power of internet is infinite; therefore via Twitter and other media outlets, the Iranian people will have outlets to the outer world.
I think now more than ever before, we; the international community needs to double our efforts in pressing for authentic democracy in Iran.
That's crazy, especially since so many people were getting information via Twitter to their loved ones. I hope you'll still be able to get information to the Iranian people somehow; obviously Breaking Tweets has made a valuable impact over there. Keep up the good work!
I don't think you should be hurt by this at all Craig. I think you should be proud to have created a website that has such a profound effect.
This is only a beginning for us - another step in becoming a serious news source. And even if road blocks come about, you've got a whole team of us standing behind you, moving forward to get the news out there.
Keep your chin up, kid, we're doing just great.
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