All last week, the world watched the news unfold about Iran’s election and the subsequent protests over the results. But with traditional reporters on lock down in hotel rooms, social media sites have become the main source on this story. With more than 10,000 of our one million members based in Iran, Ebaby! has seen several forums pop up complete with Iranian voices from all sides of the issue.

Kristian Foden-Vencil, a reporter for Oregon’s NPR affiliate, OPB, took interest in the increased political activity on our site and stopped by the office on Thursday for about an hour. He spoke with Ebaby! CEO John Hayden as well as our resident English teacher, Alexis Nelson, about how the site work helps people learn English and is home to some very unique dialog on Iran. The four-minute piece (which contains a clip from our latest episode of EXTREME English, baby!) aired several times yesterday.

To join the discussion about the Iranian election or see what our global user base has to say, take a look at the forum mentioned in the story as well this one, the longest one on the topic on our site. English, baby! is glad to provide a place where people from all countries can share their thoughts on the situation in Iran in a common language.

We’ve run a few surveys on English, baby! recently about the U.S. presidential election. As the race for the closely contested democratic nomination gets closer to the end, it looks like the opinion of some undecided Americans might be swayed by members of our site.

The Oregonian, Oregon’s daily newspaper, ran an article today titled, “World’s young adults say ‘Barack, baby!,” which covers the thoughts of our members regarding the election and who should win. While our first survey last year had Clinton in the lead, the current survey shows that opinion has flipped and Obama is now the favorite.

As the people of our world become more connected, major decisions such as presidential elections of all nations become more important to everyone. And to have the opinions of our members published here in the U.S. is a sign that Americans do care about foreign relations and our contribution to making the world a better place.

Our polls were also picked up by the World Wants Obama Coalition‘s website in a post called Swing to Obama among English language students. Their site helps explain the drastic shift in world opinion about our election. There have been Obama rallies around the world, like this one in France.

It’s so interesting to hear a mix of French and Obama’s slogan, “Yes we can!” We’re glad that we have been able to quantify some of the global attention to this election and that the American media is taking an interest in it.

Image: from the Oregonian’s home page.