WebProNews

Comedians and cynics may have to shelve jokes concerning Twitter's uselessness for at least a few weeks.  The site has started to play a significant role in Iran's election crisis, and executives have even rescheduled "a critical network upgrade" in order to keep it available.

At the moment, four of the top ten trending topics on Twitter are related to Iran.  Many comments come from outside the country, of course, but people on the ground are also using it to give direct accounts.  NBC reporter Richard Engel went so far as to characterize this as "the first true Internet uprising."

 

And again, Twitter's doing what it can to help.  On the Twitter Blog, Biz Stone wrote late yesterday, "In coordination with Twitter, our network host had planned this upgrade for tonight.  However, our network partners at NTT America recognize the role Twitter is currently playing as an important communication tool in Iran."

Stone then summarized, "Tonight's planned maintenance has been rescheduled to tomorrow between 2-3p PST (1:30a in Iran)."

Meanwhile, news sources based in the UK, France, Jordan, and many other places have taken note of Twitter's move.  It's fascinating to see what many still view as a niche social network become so important on an international level.