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Blogging in Iran operates under special circumstances 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 especially 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.

Contents 1 Timeline 1.1 2001 1.2 2002 1.3 2003 1.4 2004 1.5 2005 1.6 2006 2 Directories 3 Related books 4 Academic papers 5 Media articles 6 Interesting facts 7 See also 8 External links

• 7 September - Salman Jariri publishes the first Persian blog using manual coding. His posts have no direct links, no place for readers' comments. [1]
• 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. [2]

• 2 June - Cappuccino magazine is launched.
• 21 June - PersianBlog is launched.

• • 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.

• 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

• 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. [3]

• Persian language was listed by Technorati among 10 most common languages among bloggers.[4]
• 14 August - President Ahmadinejad starts his multilingual blog with one long entry. [5]
• December: Mehrnoush Najafi Ragheb won city council election in Hamedan.

• Persian Blog
• [6] News blog on Iran
• BlogFa
• Blog Sky
• Mihan Blog
• Parsi blog

• 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

• 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).

• 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 Frech and Arabic.

"Persian is now the fourth most widely used language on web logs." - The (UK) Times, 2004 [7].

• Media of Iran
• Internet censorship in Iran