Text Messengers - They are Coming After You!

"I have the address and phone numbers of those who have slandered me (in the text messages)," the ultra-conservative Tehran Mayor Mahmood Ahmadinejad said in an Iranian newspaper. According to a recent article the mayor, who is running in the upcoming presidential election, has lately been the target of many slandering text messages throughout Iran.

How would you like to read that from a man who might soon rule your country???

In America candidates are trying to figure out how to implement text messaging into their campaign strategies; in Iran they are figuring out how to stop it.

Would you be ready to go to jail for using your cell phone? According to Iranian judiciary, text messaging to promote a cause or to tarnish a presidential candidate is illegal because it is an attempt to disrupt public order. The government is so scared by this new technology that Iranian state television is regularly broadcasting a statement telling viewers to stop sending text messages or they will be prosecuting. In a country with 67 million people and only 6 million cell phones 'texting' is really influencing the election. So much in fact that the government is thinking about cutting off SMS service until the election is over.

What can we learn from this real life example from half way around the world? Well obviously don't piss off the guy who might soon be your president (aka dictator.) But more importantly, the minority opinion can make a difference. The 6 million cell phone users in Iran are mostly young and they are influencing the potential outcome of the election. We know they are making a difference because if they weren't, the government would not be trying to stop it. How much of a difference we are still not sure but it is definitely something to keep an eye on once the election is over. The lessons learned in Iran could be used in future American campaign strategies.