What the hashtag? A content analysis of Canadian politics on Twitter

Abstract

The controversial presidential election in Iran was the number one news topic on Twitter in 2009 (Twitter 2009). People tagged information on the protest with the hashtag #iranelection. Twitter was considered by many to be crucial for the reporting of events on the ground. Time magazine reported that when protests started to escalate, and the Iranian government moved to suppress dissent both on-and off-line, the Twitterverse exploded with tweets from people who weren’t having it, both in English and in Farsi. While the front pages of Iranian newspapers were full of blank space where censors had whited-out news stories, Twitter was delivering information from street level, in real time.