Everyone loves sharing photos…even iron-fisted theocratic rulers bent on destroying the very freedom embodied by social networks. Iranian Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, whose government banned Facebook for inciting democratic protests, has created a page of his own with surprisingly sophisticated use of the Timeline. He even brought out his inner hipster and got nostalgic on Instagram, posting a grainy boyhood photo of himself as a young revolutionary:
Photo Credit: Instagram User khamenei_ir
Sure, in all likelihood, it’s another brazen propaganda tool by a fiercely dictatorial regime and the Ayatollah, himself, has no idea how to upload photos to Instagram. But, Iran policymakers have professed their love of Western Internet services before, stopping Internet censorship for greater access to Gmail. So maybe, just maybe, he’s addicted to Facebook like so many other people around the world. I await his invitation to play Words With Friends.