Iranian-Americans 'hungry' for updates amid tumult in IranStory Highlights

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The Iranian-American community is half a world away from the turmoil in Iran, but they are tuning in, logging on and even stepping out in demonstrations to show solidarity with relatives and friends.

Iranian-Americans protest Iran's election results in front of the White House in Washington last week.

Americans with Iranian roots showed their interest in the election Friday by voting at more than three dozen polling places from Washington to Los Angeles.
And now the post-election turmoil has ratcheted up that interest higher than ever.
"The Iranian-American community is hungry for all news and information coming out of Iran," Afshin Molavi told CNN on Tuesday in a telephone interview. Molavi was born in Iran but grew up in the West. He is affiliated with the New America Foundation, a Washington think tank, and has been a frequent commentator on events in Iran.
He said the Iranian-American community in the United States has been electrified by events. Watch protesters outside the U.N. »
"We are seeing real excitement," Molavi said in a telephone interview. "Not since 1997 have we seen this." That was when reformer Mohammad Khatami was elected president.
Iranian-Americans check newspapers and cable news outlets but are also turning to YouTube and social networking sites such as Facebook.
"They will tune in CNN first. But they will spend hours in front of a computer searching YouTube, Twitter and Facebook," Molavi said. "YouTube is easier to process. It is just raw video of what is on the streets of Iran." He said Iranian-Americans are carefully following how protests are going not just in Tehran but also in other Iranian cities.
The videos become what Molavi calls a "cyber-space echo-chamber" with people sending and forwarding other favorite snippets of video.