It has come as a surprise to many, not least to Iran’s regime, just how effectively the country’s young population has been able to articulate and organise opposition protest on the web.

New technologies have turned yesterday’s flashmob into today’s political rally. With elements of the Iranian mobile phone system disabled, the internet has become the organising medium for the opposition and Facebook and Twitter the tools of choice to communicate and organise dissent.

Some inside Iran have clearly being using the micro-blogging service to try to organise the protests. “After yesterday million-large protests, continue your peaceful protests today in Tehran at Valiasr Street 5pm TELL EVERYONE,” wrote one Twitter user. Another wrote: “ok guys thats it im heading for 7-tir for march and i hope i go home alive may god bless me.”

With an estimated 700,000 bloggers, Farsi has become the second most popular language on the web after English. So effective have Iranians proved in their use of the web that the powerful Revolutionary Guards warned that action would be taken against “deviant news sites”.

The web has provided a means to pour real-time, unfiltered information within and outside Iran. Twitter in particular is ideal in that it is easy to use and hard to control. Users can sign in simply and update the site through SMS text messages or on the web.

There is no time delay on messages, so information cannot be filtered or censored. The moment a user sends a Twitter message — or “tweet”, which is limited to 140 characters, ensuring that it is succinct — anyone with an internet connection anywhere in the world can see that message. It is also difficult to track individuals, so people can stay anonymous if they want to.

Recognising this, the US State Department earlier this week asked Twitter to delay maintenance of the site that would have shut it down in the middle of the day in Iran.

After an initial fight among users about which Twitter feed people should follow for the latest on Iran, most are now using the #iranelection tag to send in their tweets. What can be seen is the web’s collective consciousness on Iran being updated every second of the day.

Early reports from Tehran after the announcement of the election results suggested that the authorities had tried to interfere or had disabled access to some sites and blocked SMS text messages. But Iranian hackers are reportedly helping to keep channels of access on the web open and even took down President Ahmadinejad’s website in an act of sabotage.

For Iranians, the internet has meant being able to see that the world is watching. Twitter has made them aware that, in their feelings about the election, they are not alone. The revolution may not be televised in Iran, but it may well be tweeted.

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