Perhaps you've already heard, but for the first time in three years, Iranians living within their home country's borders can now access and use the social networking website Facebook.

This interesting article from Radio Free Europe speculates as to why the change in policy has occurred. Those interviewed in the piece question the Fundamentalist government's motives and express doubt about Facebook's future in the country.

Some are labeling the 'legalization' of Facebook as an election ploy, while others see the social networking site as a future host of pro-government propaganda. Still, anytime mindless censorship goes away anywhere -- even temporarily -- I see it as a positive step in the right direction.

Facebook has many faults and detractors (as has been discussed at length here on OS), but it is still a noteworthy and potentially revolutionary cultural phenomenon. Having the youths of Iran join that movement seems to be a good thing -- at least on the surface. Facebook has the potential to be a platform that strengthens the cultural ties between future generations of Iranian and U.S. leaders.

The Radio Free Europe article states that since Facebook re-appeared on the Iranian web last month, it has become the 10th most popular website in the country.

Also, Iranians can now access youtube for the first time ever. I'm sure they'll have fun with that. We'll see how long this all lasts.

(image of Tehran from wikipedia and reprinted under the GNU free documentation license)