Blogging in Iran

If one had to think of the countries in which blogging is most popular, the United States, Canada, the UK would likely be the first to pop into one's head. Then perhaps Latin American countries, China?

In fact, the country with the third most bloggers in the world is Iran, according to Wikipedia. Technorati rates Farsi as the tenth most popular language of blogs in its 2008 state of the blog report. Even the president has a blog.

Global Voices Online is certainly the best place to get a taste of the blogospheres around the world. Utilizing "bridge bloggers" to translate native language blogs into other world languages, GVO allows for worlds to open.

The Iranian government takes blogs seriously. In July, the Iranian parliament voted to discuss a bill that would make web-based publishing that violates state laws regarding "corruption, prostitution and apostasy" to the list of crimes punishable by death.

Blogging in a society known for its oppression of free speech is a topic that seems ripe for academic dissection. Surprisingly there has not been much published, perhaps due to the language barrier but also because of the difficulties in methodology when studying blogs.

Here is an interesting study on the Iranian blogosphere using social network analysis. The authors found that the Iranian blogosphere is quite diverse. Social network analysis reveals the Iranian blogosphere to be dominated by four major network formations, or poles, with identifiable sub-clusters of bloggers within those poles: 1) Secular/Reformist, 2) Conservative/Religious, 3) Persian Poetry and Literature, and 4) Mixed Networks.

Film students in Vancouver made a great digital film on bloggers in Iran.