The Iranian election has created a watershed moment for social media. For months we’ve been touting the benefits of social media tools for business development, sales, prospecting and market research (Just as Dell: the company revealed earlier this month it had generated more than $2 million through its Dell Outlet Twitter account). As the situation in Iran continues to unfold, social media, and particularly Twitter, has demonstrated its ability to act as something more: as an instrument of change; an outlet for grassroots organizing; and the resource for on-the-ground breaking news.

When the government of Iran attempted to lock down all communications with the outside world, eyewitness accounts of the election and first-person updates flooded social media channels like facebook, Twitter and YouTube. According to a recent post on Mashable, the sheer volume of social media postings enabled them to track the progression of the election results in real time using only social media updates.

BBC – Protest against Iran Election Results

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KcHT8-ps64w&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fmashable%2Ecom%2F2009%2F06%2F20%2Firan%2Dyoutube%2F&feature=player_embedded]

Say what you will about the voyueristic, sometimes inane uses for Twitter – there is no denying that the ease with which the average citizen can disseminate information via “tweets” of a 140 characters or less has played a significant role in changing how breaking news and international affairs play out on the world stage. The ability to reach a global community instantly has significantly weakened the propoganda machines of oppressive governments all over the world, and has changed the way these governments think, act, respond, and are held accountable for their actions.

We are looking forward to the next stage of growth for twitter, but in the meantime, you can follow #iranelection on twitter to see how the story unfolds.