You say you want a revolution? Better set up a Twitter or YouTube account. Once derided as sandboxes for Gen Y slackers, messaging and social networking sites are the new soapboxes, organizing centers, town halls and, as the recent events in Iran have shown, an increasingly powerful news source.

Much has been made of the youth engine driving Iran’s demonstrations—half of the country’s 71 million people are under the age of 25 and nearly two-thirds are under 30. “Just look at a single photo of a rally on www.youtube.com/citzentube to see hundreds of hands raised in the air and holding a cell-phone camera to get a sense of how tech-savvy this generation is,” says Steve Grove, head of news and politics for YouTube (now owned by Google). “Now the activism that young people have always engaged in is being reflected in mass platforms for mass distribution. But it’s not just about documenting an event,” he adds. “It opens a conversation about what’s taking place.” Grove’s expansive and enthusiastic take on YouTube is at the heart of Google’s mission. This company has always stood for the democratization of information and connection.