Case Study on Moldova’s “Twitter Revolution”

Jared Cohen moderated this panel between Twitter founder Jack Dorsey, and Natalia Morar, who used the tool in Moldova in 2009 to spread the word about protests against elections which were widely deemed fraudulent. Morar's intention was to call all young people in Moldova who didn't vote for the Communist party to come into the streets with candles to commemorate a national day of mourning. Since her and her colleagues had no access to traditional media, they posted the information throughout social networks and into text messages -- they used any tool they could find.

Morar expected 300 people to come out, but she saw 15,000 people come into the streets on the first day. While it remains unclear how much of a role Twitter actually played in on the ground organizing, it was integral for the spread of the story throughout the globe. And in part as a result of the protests, another election was held. This one ousted the Communist party from the majority. For more on the Moldovan protests of 2009 check out our case study on the topic, but first watch this interview with Natalia!