Blogging in Iran operates under special conditions because the government restricts certain views. Blogs in general tend to be unregulated compared to other forms of expression in Iranian society. This characteristic can account for the huge popularity of blogs particularly among Iranian youths. As of October 2005, there are estimated to be about 700,000 Iranian blogs (out of an estimated total of 100 million worldwide), of which about 40,000-110,000 are active, mostly written in Persian, the official language of Iran.

There are also many weblogs written by Iranians in English and other languages. Most of them, though, belong to expatriates who live in North America, Europe, Japan, etc. Blogs By Iranians keeps a list of Iranian blogs written in English. Iran is the third largest country of bloggers.

Timeline

2001

7 September - Salman Jariri publishes the first Persian blog using manual coding. His posts have no direct links, no place for readers' comments.

25 September - Hossein Derakhshan, a former journalist at a reformist newspaper starts his blog using manual coding.

5 November - Hossein Derakhshan publishes instructions on "How to make a blog in Persian" using Blogger.com's free service, in response to readers' requests.

2002

2 June - Cappuccino magazine is launched.

13 June - PersianBlog.com (The first free blog service in Persian) is launched by Ata Khalighi Sigaroudi, Behrang Fooladi and Sahand Ghanoon.

2003

20 April - Sina Motallebi, journalist and blogger is arrested.

26 September - Cafe Blog opens in north of Tehran.

24 November - Mohammad Ali Abtahi, then Vice President for Legal and Parliamentary Affairs, starts "Webnevesht", the first blog by a member of the Iranian cabinet.

2004

16 January - Protesting MPs on sit-in start a weblog.

6 June - Persian Blogging festival starts.

November - Iranian blogger Mojtaba Saminejad arrested for writing about the arrests of three other bloggers

2005

5 January - Saeed Mortazavi, Tehran's Chief prosecutor, ordered major ISPs to filter PersianBlog and other blogging service websites.

27 January/12 February - Iranian blogger Mojtaba Saminejad briefly released, then rearrested

October Blog Herald estimate: 700,000 Iranian blogs, of which about 10% are active

13 September - Mojtaba Saminejad is released from prison, after serving term.

11 October - Blogging courses starts in the holy city of Qom, the traditional home of Iran's religious establishment. They are run by the newly-established office of religious weblog expansion.

2006

Persian language was listed by Technorati among 10 most common languages among bloggers.

14 August - President Ahmadinejad starts his multilingual blog with one long entry.

December: Mehrnoush Najafi Ragheb won city council election in Hamedan.

4 December: Massoumeh Ebtekar, the first female vice president of Iran starts her blog in Persian.

2007

24 December: Almost a year after starting her blog in Persian, Massoumeh Ebtekar starts her blog in English, under the title "Persian Paradox".

Directories

Persian Blog

BlogFa

Blog Sky

Mihan Blog

Parsi blog

Related books

We Are Iran: The Persian Blogs by Nasrin Alavi (Soft Skull Press /November 28, 2005) ISBN 1-933368-05-5

We the Media: Grassroots Journalism by the People, for the People by Dan Gilmor (O'Reilly, 2004) ISBN 0-596-00733-7

Academic papers

Rahimi, Babak (September 2003). Cyberdissent: The Internet in Revolutionary Iran. Middle East Review of International Affairs, Interdisciplinary Center (IDC) Herzliya , 7(3).

Doostdar, Alireza (Dec. 2004). "The Vulgar Spirit of Blogging": On Language, Culture, and Power in Persian Weblogestan. American Anthropologist 106(4).

Jensen, Peder Are Nøstvold (Sep. 2004). A Case Study of Iranian English Language Weblogs, inside and outside of the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Farrell, Henry and Drezner, Daniel W. (Aug. 2004). The Power and Politics of Blogs.

Simmons, Erin A. (Jun. 2005). The Impact of the Weblog: A Case Study of The United States and Iran.

Alexanian, Janet A. (Nov. 2006). Publicly Intimate Online: Iranian Web Logs in Southern California. Comparative Studies of South Asia, Africa and the Middle East, Duke University Press 26(1)

Halevi, Jordan. (March 2006). The Iranian Weblog Research Project: Survey Results.

Hendelman-Baavur, Liora (June 2007). "Promises and Perils of Weblogistan: Online Personal Journals and the Islamic Republic of Iran". The Middle East Review of International Affairs, 11(2).

PetrossianL, Celine (2006). Liberating the Silenced: Iranian Bloggers in the Diaspora, California State University, Northridge.

Behrouzan, Orkideh (2005) 'Persian Blogs agains "The Dual Language"', Anthropology News, Vol. 46, No. 2, pp. 27-27

Sreberny, Annabelle (2007). 'Becoming Intellectual: The Blogestan and Public Political Space in the Islamic Republic', British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies, vol.34, No. 3, pp. 267-286

Media articles

Ctrl+shift as Iranian clerics take to Internet; Once vilified, websites and blogs are a favored tool of religious leaders.. (Apr 2007). Los Angeles times

King of the Iranian bloggers (January 2007). Haaretz

Blogfather: Times are hard for Iran's online free-speech pioneer (November 2007). Ottawa Citizen

Murphy, Brian. (Aug. 2006) Iranian censors clamp down on bloggers. Associated Press

Gensing, Patrick. (Feb. 2006). Ein iranischer Blogger in Israel - "Mein Blog ist Rap-Musik". tagesschau.de

Jürgs, Alexander. (Dec. 2005). Vater der Blogger Frankfurter Algemeine Zeitung

(Feb. 2006) Bloggen är hans fasta punkt Dagens Nyheter

Carp, Ossi. (Feb. 2006). Hoder visar ett annat Iran Svenska Dagbladet

Reza Kazemi, Mohammad (Jul. 2006). Aufstand per Mausklick. Der Spiegel

Halpern, Orly (Jan. 2006). Web relations: Iranian blogs his way to Israel. Jerusalem Post

Ofek, Koby (Jan. 2006). I'll blog your house down. Haaretz

Macintyre, Ben (Dec. 2005). Mullahs versus bloggers. The Times

Taylor, Craig (Oct. 2005). A Dissident's Diary. UofT Magazine

Derakhshan, Hossein (Jul. 2005). Iran's young reformers. openDemocracy

Siamdoust, Nahid (Jun. 2005). Iranian Blogger Returns From Exile for Vote. Los Angeles Times

Howe, Jeff (Jun. 2005). Blog Spring. Wired Magazine

Exiles seek to blog Iran toward democracy. (Jun. 2005). AFP

Dickey, Christopher (Jun. 2005). Writing Lolita in Tehran. Newsweek

Milaninia, Nema (Jun. 2005) A Tehran Bias: Why We Iranian Bloggers Were Wrong About the Election. Pacific News Service

Hossein Derakhshan (Jun. 2005) Ein TV-Sieg. Die Zeit

Lau, Jörg (Jun. 2005 In Weblogistan. Die Zeit

Jami, Mehdi (June 2005) Iranian blogs take on elections. BBC News

Milaninia, Nema (June 2005) blogsbyiranians.com. The Iranian

Slavin, Barbara (June 2005) Internet booms alters political process in Iran. USA Today

Vanden Heuvel, Katrina (May 2005) Bloggers of Iran. The Nation

Derakhshan, Hossein & Larsen, Solana (May 2005) Blogging Iran's wired election. openDemocracy

Pelta-Heller, Zack (Feb. 2005). Building Blogs. AlterNet

Boyd, Clark (Feb. 2005). The price paid for blogging Iran. BBC Online

Motlagh, Jason (Feb. 2005). Words are weapons for Iranian bloggers. Washington Times

Theodolou, Michael (Feb. 2005). Iran's bloggers get caught in crossfire of 'war on terror'. Christian Science Monitor

Stack, Megan (Jan. 2005). Iran Attempts to Pull Plug on Web Dissidents. Los Angeles Times

Fathi, Nazila (Jan. 2005). Iranian Cleric Turns Blogger In Campaign For Reform. New York Times

Ho, Stephanie (Jan 2005). 'Blogging' Stirs Controversy in Iran. VOA News

Iran fights to keep Gulf Persian. (Nov. 2004). BBC News

Lobe, Jim (Nov. 2004). Rights groups condemn Iran's internet crackdown. EurasiaNet

Macintyre, Ben (Nov. 2004). Welcome to the new Tom Paines. The Times Online.

Fathi, Nazila (Nov. 2004). Iran Jails More Journalists and Blocks Web Sites. New York Times.

W. Drezner, Daniel and Farrell, Henry (Nov. 2004). Web of Influence. Foreign Policy.

Theodolou, Michael (Nov. 2004). Iran's hard-liners turn a censorious eye on Web journalists. Christian Science Monitor.

Bahari, Maziar (Nov. 2004). Iran: 'Hey World, Pay Attention to Us!'. Newsweek.

Bahari, Maziar (Nov. 2004). Closing the Cybergates. Newsweek International.

Bloggers Protest Internet Crackdown. (Sep. 2004). International Freedom of Expression eXchange

Meyer, Andre (Sep. 2004). Persian Persuasion. (Sep. 2004). 'This Magazine'

Glaser, Mark (Sep. 2004). Iranian Bloggers Protest Government Crackdown on Reformist News Sites. Online Journalism Review.

Amir-Ebrahimi, Masserat (Sep 2004). Performance in Everyday Life and the Rediscovery of the "Self" in Iranian Weblogs. "Badjens" Iranian Feminist Newsletter

Iran's bloggers in censorship protest. (Sep. 2004). BBC News Online.

Gillmor, Dan (Apr. 2004). Weblogs gaining maturity, becoming more useful. San Jose Mercury News.

Bazzi, Mohamad (Mar. 2004). Cleric's Web site breaches tradition. Newsday.

Murphy, Brian (Feb. 2004). Blogging boom in Iran defies media control. Associated Press.

Glaser, Mark (Jan. 2004). Iranian Journalist Credits Blogs for Playing Key Role in His Release From Prison. Online Journalism Review.

Derakhshan, Hossein (Jan. 2004). Censor this: Iran's web of lies. openDemocracy.

Scullion, Aaron (Dec. 2003). Iran's president defends web control. BBC News Online.

Scullion, Aaron (Dec. 2003). Iranian bloggers rally against censorship. BBC News Online.

Derakhshan, Hossein (Nov. 2003). Blogs makes them feel free. Tekka Magazine.

The Blog Shall Make You Free. (Jul. 2003). Wall Street Journal.

McLaughlin, Erin (Jul. 2003). Iran keeps an eye on the bloggers. CNN.com International.

Moallemian, Pedram (Jul 2003). Blogs shall set you free. The Iranian.

Delio, Michelle (May 2004). Blogs Opening Iranian Society?. Wired News.

Thompson, Bill (May 2003). Gagging the Bloggers.BBC News Online.

Wente, Margaret (May 2003). The story of the Internet and the frustrated mullahs. The Globe and Mail.

Yousefizadeh, Pejman (May 2003). Blogging for Revolution.Tech Central Station.

Brooks, Allison (May 2003). Bloggers United. Newsweek Online.

Moallemian, Pedram (May 2003). Iran's Web Log Quandary. The Blanket.

Glaser, Mark (Apr. 2003). Weblogs Unite to Protest Detained Iranian Blogger. Online Journalism Review.

Derakhshan, Hossein (Mar. 2003). Weblogs, an Iranian Perspective. Editor: Myself.

Rezakhani, Khodadad (Feb. 2003). Editorials without Editors. Iranologie.

Grivitz, Geoff (Jul. 2002). Bringing the Mountain to Mohammad. Shift online.

Hermida, Alfred (Jun. 2002). Web gives a voice to Iranian women.BBC New Online.

Khojasteh, Kaveh (Jun. 2002). Persian Weblogs. Not Exactly.

ABRIC, Christophe (Mar. 2003). Iran-libre.com. tf1 News.

Senza segreti, Dario (Mar. 2003). Silvia Santoni. Cultur-e.

Weblogestan: à l'école de la blogsphère iranienne.. fikra فكرةBy Sami Ben Gharbia; in French and Arabic.

Interesting facts

"Persian is now the fourth most widely used language on web logs." - The (UK) Times, 2004 .