The folks over at Twitter should be very proud. I'm quite sure that when the founders sent out that first tweet — "What are you doing?" — that never in their wildest dreams would they have believed Twitter would have an international effect on news and information.

Last week, elections were held in Iran with two sides proclaiming very different results. The current Iranian president claimed victory. The challenger and his supporters protested a dirty election. People, young and old, went to the streets in mass demonstrations illustrating their concern over the election results. State-run media in Iran started to limit or completely stop transmission of video and information from journalists within Iran. That's where Twitter came to the rescue. People began tweeting about what was really going on. The Twitter-verse in the United States began putting pressure on the major news outlets to cover the Iranian protests in greater detail, with CNN, MSNBC, FOX NEWS and other outlets giving special attention to the world of Twitter. I heard one commentator say, "We can no longer rely on the journalist to give us information. We have to count on the people."

Although social media tools such as Twitter and Facebook are becoming the main tools used to communicate, the above comment  shows how far we've to come. For news and information, we've always relied heavily on local television news anchors to tell us what is happening. The nightly newscast was the place we'd hear about the rest of the country and world. We put a lot of trust in those who gave us the news. But today, waiting for the evening news is somewhat unheard of. Twenty-four hour cable news stations can pretty much give us what we want when we need it — or can they?

This election in Iran is a perfect illustration of the power of social media. People — regular people like you and I — have information that we'd like to share. No longer does the public have to send an op-ed to the local paper in hopes to be printed. Within seconds, one's thoughts can be published to the world to read and comment. What a great place...what a great space to learn!

Schools, leaders and teachers who figure out ways to use social media tools will engage their learners in a student-centered way. This is an opportunity for school leaders to engage students and allow them to contribute to the academics of their school. This is the time to have students be proponents of education, primarily because they will be involved like never before. It's what makes Twitter and other social media tools so attractive: There's a connection we feel immediately. Isn't that what we want in our schools — to have students feel connected to what it is they are learning?

It has been interesting to watch the growth of Twitter, Facebook and other social media — the growth has moved so fast that it's hard to keep up. But that's OK. People have a lot to say (some good and some not so good). Students have a lot to say as well. Let's give them the tools to be active learners in a world that is changing right before their eyes.