\#pman

The Twitter tag for Piata Marii Adunari Nationale – the central square in Chisinau, Moldova – where campaigners gathered to protest the country’s disputed elections†.

Discussing the role that social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook played in co-ordinating Moldova’s protests, Shaun Walker observed in The Independent:

Not too long ago, revolutions were named after colors or flowers – Orange for Ukraine, Rose for Georgia, Tulip for Kyrgyzstan. But in a sign that technology is now fueling opposition to post-Soviet regimes as much as romantic ideals, the protests in Moldova have been dubbed the “Twitter Revolution.”

In the list of most popular Twitter searches yesterday, along with contestants from Pop Idol and other television-related inanity, was “\#pman” the abbreviation for Piata Marii Adunari Nationale, the Romanian name for the main square in Chisinau and the epicentre of the protests.

In Foreign Policy magazine, Evgeny Morozov noted:

If you asked me about the prospects of a Twitter-driven revolutionin a low-tech country like Moldova a week ago, my answer would probably be a qualified “no.” Today, however, I am no longer as certain. If you bothered to check the most popular discussions on Twitter in the last 48 hours, you may have stumbled upon a weird thread of posts marked with a tag “\#pman” (it’s currently listed in Twitter’s “Trending Topics” along with “Apple Store,” Eminem, and Easter).

(† The Moldovan president Vladimir Voronin recently announced a recount. In response, opposition leaders promised a boycott and insisted on new elections.)