This is my hastily devised Twitter avatar to show support for the people of Iran during the current time of difficulty. It includes the word "freedom" in Parsi (Persian).

Initially when I began to see avatars go green yesterday, I was hesitant to join in, thinking that this was likely a silly and ineffectual meme du jour. At the same time, I had a nagging suspicion that I was missing something.  It finally came together for me in responses to this tweet, and in Barlow's stream.

I've also set my Twitter location and time zone to Tehran for the time being, in an attempt to help muddy the waters as the Iranian government tries to root out Twitter users reporting from the city. Now that foreign journalists have been banned from reporting activity in the streets, first-hand reports from individuals on Twitter and other sites on the Net may well be the best information we'll get for awhile.

Here's a New York Times piece about the role social media sites are playing. In addition to reports from witnesses in Tehran, Twitter was also being used to coordinate activities there, to set up denial of service attacks on Iranian government websites, and to spread the word about proxy servers that would allow Iranians continued access to various sites that their government blocked.

Who knows if our efforts on Twitter and elsewhere will make a difference? If nothing else, when we see the green avatars, our thoughts return to the situation. I have to believe that all of that psychic energy, in the long run, will help. It certainly can't hurt.

My prayers are with all who are suffering in Iran today, and my heart is with those who struggle for freedom around the world.