The revolution will be tweeted.

Twitter, the popular social networking tool, is maturing from just delivering random, mundane status updates to organizing mass protests in Iran over the disputed presidential election.

A U.S. State Department official told Reuters Tuesday that the department encouraged Twitter to delay a scheduled maintenance because it would have cut into the daytime hours in Iran. While Twitter co-founder Biz Stone, wrote in a blog that the department did not make the decision for Twitter, he did say the decision to delay maintenance was an important one.

“When we worked with our network provider to reschedule this planned maintenance, we did so because events in Iran were tied directly to the growing significance of Twitter as an important communication and information network,” Stone wrote.

Michael Struett, assistant professor of public and international affairs, said he was surprised that the State Department would even suggest the delay because the Obama administration has been careful not to intervene in the Iranian election debacle.

“In a country like Iran, for the U.S. to take a formal position that seems to favor one side or another in a debate like this, actually undermines the people we would most like to see succeed,” Struett said.

Iranian opposition party members turned to Twitter when the government shut off cell phone towers and began to deny reporters access to the streets.

Robert Schrag, a communication professor who teaches communication technology, said this is not the first time a group has used the Internet to achieve a political agenda.

Schrag said the Chinese government is a prime example of a government using technology to control information — the Chinese government demanded that the Green Dam-Youth Escort software be installed on any computer sold in China, starting July 1.

“It allows them to continually upload to any computer a list of Internet sites that you simply cannot access,” he said.

Both Schrag and Struett referenced the history of the Internet as the start of its political influence, beginning with its establishment as a secret project by the Department of Defense for military purposes.

“I’m sure in Google’s offices or in other companies …there’s an awareness that there’s a political implication to what they’re doing,” Struett said.

Schrag said the reason Twitter has been so helpful for users is because Twitter messages are so short, they can direct readers to a Web site with either more information or photos, as Iranian protesters are doing.

Communication, Struett said, has always been important to political organizations.

“The way you carry out a political campaign of any kind has changed over time as technology has changed,” he said.

But Schrag said Twitter is still a relatively new tool that is continuously receiving press coverage.

“I dont think even Twitter knows how to use Twitter yet,” he said.

And Schrag suspects that its increasing role with the Iranian elections was not expected.

“I don’t think even the company itself probably ever envisioned the company as being a significant social movement vehicle. …Although during the Obama campaign, we began to get inklings of it,” Schrag said.

Schrag warned that while the culture of freedom of information through the Internet is essential, it does come with risks.

“You have to have a really strong ethical compass because communication is power and information is power, and you can use it for good or you can use it for evil, and that’s your choice,” he said.

He said with the situation in Iran, one point to remember is that Twitter is advantaging a particular group of people and it’s important to realize that not all the information may be accurate.

Sorting through all the information released on the Internet, Struett said, is a real challenge in the information age.

After Iranian government officials realized opposition members were using Twitter, they began to try to release their own versions of information through the feeds as well, according to some reports.

“Misinformation is a very serious concern, and that’s a tactic that’s as old as time,” Struett said.

But he said as technology develops, though it’s not impossible, it becomes more difficult for states to control information its citizens release.

“Unfortunately, I fear that the next tactic they’re going to take is possibly violence against people who are demonstrating in the street,” he said.