With the Iranian government clamping down on foreign journalists, Kelly has a point: access to Twitter and ilk are crucial sources of information.
Social media tools like Twitter and Facebook have already emerged as sources of raw news in disasters and political crises before--from the Hudson River emergency plane landing to the terrorist attacks in Mumbai. But this is the first time they've been highlighted as vital information channels in Iran--both for protesters trying to spread information and for government authorities trying to gather it.
Iran has organized its own blogging competition, called "The Face of '89," in reference to the Persian calendar year 1389, which just ended on March 20.
However, the rules of the competition stated that blogs that are blocked within the country - typically those that criticize the Iranian government - are not eligible to participate
Like a rising tide held back by a stack of sandbags, the media-hungry population in Iran will always find new ways to illegally download, copy, and distribute dissenting voices such as Hosseini's. In fact, an email from a fan confirmed that Tehranis have recently been giving out copies of Hosseini's show on the streets by hand. Ironically, Iran's citizens are resorting to the time-old method of distribution on the streets to circumvent the government's censorship of modern technologies.