I'm not a real big devotee of Twitter, since for the most part I find it to be a mile wide and a millimeter deep, mostly flash and very substance.
But it is perfectly suited to, and an accurate reflection of this ADHD world we are mired in.
I find this description of life in America from 30 years ago to be an accurate description of the phenomenon:
"...the stream of national consciousness moves faster now, and is broader, but it seems to run less deep. The old channels cannot contain it and in its search for new ones there seems to be growing havoc and destruction along its banks...."
However, that being said, I can't dismiss its impact on breaking events in Iran, since it seems the whole country, according to Andrew Sullivan, had a Howard Beale moment last night as a direct result of a single Twitter message, which compelled the citizenry to rise up on their feet and take to the streets.
Impressive.
Here's Howard Beale inspiring the masses, (pay attention to the shouting from the rooftops at the 4 minute mark), in the movie Network:
And here's the 140, (or less), character message that sparked the movement into the streets:
Here's what's going on in the street, as a result of that single message:
And here is a protestor protecting an Iranian Peace Officer from an unruly crowd:
(H/T to Robert George, over at his at Ragged Thots Blog, my favorite rational moderate Republican, whose doing a damn sight more than Chris Buckley to unfluck what's left of that Party, for bringing this 'The Revolution Will Be Blithely Pre-Empeted on CNN by Water Skiing Squirrels And Twittered Instead' sequence of events to my attention)
Comments