Twitter is revolutionizing the way people gather and disseminate news, and today there’s no better example of that than what’s happening in Iran.

After Friday’s hotted contested presidential elections saw the apparent re-election of incumbent Mahmoud Ahmadinejad by a landslide, supporters of challenger Mir Hossein Mousavi took to the streets in what looks to be the biggest rioting and protests since the 1979 Iranian revolution.

In the past 72 hours, Iranian citizens and traditional news organizations have taken to Twitter, blogs and other social networks to share what’s happening with the world. Through short reports on the social network, photos on Flickr and newspaper websites, live blog updates and video feeds, activists and observers are recording what is happening in the country, which has shut down other forms of communication.

Other quick take aways from what’s happening:

** As foreign press are being threatened and asked to leave the country, lines between trained journalists and citizen journalists are blurring. Man-on-the-street reports, photos and video of what’s happening are coming from a variety of sources, making it more critical than ever that news gathering organizations use their experience and professional standards to act as curators and pull together multimedia packages from various information sources and make sure people know what those sources are.

** In a Twitter world, people want constant coverage and complain when they don’t get it. When CNN and other networks didn’t provide the kind of 24/7 coverage U.S. viewers wanted they took their protests to Twitter. In fact, Twitter’s become so important to the news, when the company announced a service interruption for scheduled maintenance at what would have been Tuesday morning in Iran, subscribers made such a stink the work was rescheduled to occur at 1:30 a.m. Tehran time.

** For a well-curated sample of what’s happening in Tehran, plus continuing commentary of how mainstream media and other are covering it, check out Andrew Sullivan’s The Daily Dish column at TheAtlantic.com.

This week’s highlights from the world of freelance writing and online media:

Online news wins big – Much was made of the fact that although this was the first year Pulitzer Prizes were open to online-only publications none received any of the newspaper industry’s highest honors and only one, Politico, was a finalist, and in the editorial cartooning category at that. But that’s a bit of a short sided view. Although no online-only outfits took home awards, online news was recognized in several categories, most notably the St. Petersburg Times’ PolitiFact Website, which tested the validity of political statements made during the 2008 elections and took home the Pulitzer for national reporting. Read the entire list of 2009 winners here.

More bloggers than bartenders – Speaking of new forms of news, the Wall Street Journal says there are more people in the United States making money blogging than tending bar. According to the story, 1.7 million Americans are paid bloggers and 452,000 make it their primary source of income. According to the story, it takes 100,000 unique visitors a month to make $75,000 a year.

Hyperlocal news ventures get grants – And speaking of getting paid to blog, J-Lab: The Institute for Interactive Journalism at American University’s School of Communication will grant up to $25,000 each in start up funds over the next two years to eight hyperlocal community news projects. Winners of the New Voices grants were chosen from among 304 applicants. They include Oakland Local, a daily news Website and mobile service covering Oakland, California; and The Villager, a hyperlocal news site covering Coconut Grove West in Florida crerated by Kim Grinfelder, a University of Miami professor.

Using social media to build the Brand of You – Robin Broitman, an Internet and social media strategist and Web publisher for the National Wildlife Federation, has published the most extensive listing I’ve ever seen on using social media to build brand identity. What does this have to do with freelancing? Plenty. In a world where more writers are disconnecting from staff jobs, by choice or otherwise, having an identifiable brand is one way to stand out in the crowd. Broitman’s list is compiled from blog posts written by some of social media’s biggest gurus and covers everything from how to write more effective online network profile pages to why you should use your real name as your Twitter handle.

Freelance love – The folks at ODesk.com, a market for online teams, put together a list of 100 top freelance blogs that includes blogs on freelance writing, Web design, graphic design, software development, illustration and more. OK, so WordCount didn’t make the cut – there’s always next time.

This week’s Twitter tools:

• @APStylebook – The international wire service has created a home on Twitter for its venerable style guide for news reporters. Staffers manning the account will can’t answer AP style questions but will direct Twitterers to the service’s Website, APStylebook.com.
• TwitterSheep – A fun app that creates a Wordle-like word cloud based on your Twitter followers. Here’s mine.

UPDATED APRIL 18: U.S. freelance broadcast journalist Roxana Saberi was sentenced to eight years in prison in Iran, where she had been accused of spying. Saberi, a former Miss North Dakota who’d reported from Iran for National Public Radio and other news organizations for the past six years, stood trial in Tehran earlier this week. According to news reports, Saberi, 31, was accused of posing as a journalist while secretly passing information to U.S. intelligence agencies, charges American officials denied. Saberi, who holds dual Iranian-American citizenship, was tried in Revolutionary Court, which hears cases involving national security.

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UPDATED APRIL 8: Iran has formally charged Iranian-American freelance broadcast journalist Roxana Saberi with spying, news agencies are reporting today. The Times of London reported Iranian media as saying an Iranian deputy processor has confirmed Saberi has accepted the charges. An attorney for Saberi said he hasn’t seen the charges, according to the Times report. Also today her parents were able to visit her in Tehran’s Evin prison for the first time since she was arrested two months ago.

Read the AP’s story on the situation here and the Financial Times’ version here.

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The Committee to Project Journalists is asking writers to help petition for the release of a freelance journalist held without charge in an Iranian prison since last month.

Roxana Saberi, a Fargo, North Dakota, resident and one-time Miss North Dakota, has lived in Iran for the past six years working as a freelance TV and radio reporter for National Public Radio, PRI’s The World, the BBC, ABC News and other media outlets.

CPJ, an independent organization that promotes press freedom worldwide, has launched a Facebook petition drive to collect 1,000 signatures requesting Saberi’s release. Once enough signatures are collected, CPJ plans to send the petition to Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

According to a Fargo TV station report, Saberi told her parents on Feb. 10 that she was arrested after a bottle of wine she’d bought – an illegal activity in Iran – was found in her apartment. She hasn’t been heard from since.

Saberi graduated from Northwestern’s Medill School of Journalism in 1997 and Jack C. Doppelt, a Medill journalism professor, is helping spread word of her plight. “Roxana is a talented and committed journalist, and a person of warmth and good will. She is someone who deserves our attention, support and thoughts,” Doppelt says in an open letter urging journalists to sign the petition.

It’s not surprising that the man who ran an unprecedented Internet campaign, a man who lives on his Blackberry would kick things up a notch when it came to the White House’s online presence.

As soon as Barack Obama was inaugurated as the country’s 44th president earlier today, his IT staff flipped the switch on a newly redesigned WhiteHouse.gov Website, complete with blog, RSS feed and online form citizens can use to write in requests for additional information they’d like to see on the site.

Whether the new president is true to his word to bring more transparency to government remains to be seen – he’s already drawn heat for not making himself accessible to the press.

But the newly redesigned White House Website is a start. For one, it features a Briefing Room section with updates on the presidential schedule and a blog. The blogger-in-chief is Macon Phillips, the White House’s new media director, and by dint of his position instantly becomes the country’s most influential social media trend setter.

You can also follow the official WhiteHouse.gov Twitter feed at @whitehouse_gov.

According to the Website’s Agenda section, Obama’s technology policy aims to:

• Ensure a free and full exchange of ideas through Internet and diverse media outlets
• Create a transparent and connected democracy to bring government into the 21st century
• Deploy a modern communications infrastructure
• Improve America’s competitiveness
• Prepare children and adults for the 21st century economy
• Use science, technology and innovation to solve nation’s problems

Interested in a White House job? Check here for openings – although as of Tuesday morning PST there still weren’t any listed.

The complete text of Obama’s inaugural address is expected to be posted on the site later Tuesday. Catch a video feed of the inaugural speech here.