User:Matthewptunney/sandbox

Communications and Social Media


'''Blackberry Messenger

BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) was being used by rioters as an effective tool. One of the many messages shared between users was the following:


 * "Everyone in edmonton enfield wood green everywhere in north link up at enfield town station at 4 o clock sharp!!!!," it began. "Start leaving ur yards n linking up with your [n****s. F**k] da feds, bring your ballys and your bags trollys, cars vans, hammers the lot!!"

Supporting this is a journalist from The Guardian named Juliette Garside, who explains that
 * "The BlackBerry Messenger service is claimed to have played a key role in helping rioters organise the violence that has swept the country since trouble began in Tottenham on Friday, with gangs using the service to arrange the times and locations of looting.

However, BBM was also used by the police to track down rioters with consent from Research in Motion (RIM), the company that created BBM
 * The Canadian company added: "We comply with the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act and co-operate fully with the Home Office and UK police forces," RIM said in a statement on Monday."

Increased connectivity among individuals has led to a greater ability to organize and execute massive gatherings. This has not occurred only with the riots in England, but with other collective gatherings such as the Arab Spring and the Egyptian revolution of 2011. However, in this instance, one specific mobile phone technology played an important role. Blackberry Messenger, commonly referred to as BBM, acted as a preferred method of communication during the riots. Rioters had the ability to instantly contact specific individuals or broadcast a message to an entire contact list, spreading information about where the riots were currently taking place, safe routes along roadways to travel, and police activity. Blackberry’s messaging service was well suited for this form of networking for a variety of reasons. Firstly, many rioters owned a Blackberry and had access to its instant messaging service, as Blackberry mobile devices control twenty-four percent of the total market and thirty-seven percent of the teen market. In addition, messages are received instantly, allowing for information to spread quickly throughout large masses of people. Finally, while Blackberry has become increasingly popular among teenagers, the technology was originally intended for business communication. As a result, a secure server allows messages to pass back and forth without the risk of public access; since this was the major form of communication, it was difficult for the authorities to track the movements of the rioters, allowing them to gather with less interference. Picha94 (talk) 05:10, 29 March 2012 (UTC)

'''Twitter

Much like BBM, the speed and accessibility of social media has shaped the London Riots. Searching for BBM on Twitter shows the origins of communication of the riots using Blackberry Messenger. During the Tottenham riots of 1985, citizens had to head into a public place to voice their message. Yet, with access to Twitter as a communication medium, social media was used to rapidly spread messages of revolt. During these riots, a man named Jody McIntyre was forcibly removed from his wheelchair and in response, he asked his 9000 Twitter followers for support. However, most media channels associate the riots with violence, and blamed Twitter with this negative image. Radio 4 criticizes Twitter's contribution to the riots through greed and criminality. The Daily Telegraph described Twitter as an outlet for promoting gang violence. Opposite to these sources, ordinary citizens eliminate Twitter as the source for chaos. Social media is not responsible but the people using it are. Twitter is not to blame; it is simply the choice of communication whether it is facebook or a carrier pigeon.

Due to it's popularity, Twitter became the choice of communication for civillians to have their voices heard. During the riots, Twitter accounted for 4 out of every 170 UK internet visits on Aug, 8. As shown in the London riots, one uses Twitter to spread their prominent message to millions. Data collected from the London riots, displayed Twitter as a tool to support ones point and having Tweets made popular by newsworthy people. . Twitter is an effective communication medium with tools such as re-tweeting and hashtags, make it effortless for users to spread a message through re-tweets and hashtags. The hashtag system allows people to band together under a common cause without having previously met. Similarly using Twitter, citizens untied after the destruction. The aftermath of the riots resulted in an overturned city, yet Twitter was further used to maintain peace, with hastags including #riotcleanup. Another prominent tool includes retweeting and having one clear message heard. Evidence shows that people were tweeting and re-tweeting news related to the riots, not original content. Evidence shows that Twitter is powerful because tweets of individuals were inspired by news content. This social media device expands networks, joining millions to one cause. Currently, Twitter is the dominant medium of communication and utilizing it in the London riots, led to a social revolution.



'''General Media

According to an online CBC News article, a teacher at the University of Toronto's Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, named Megan Boler, explains that social media is used as a tool of democracy to take down corrupt regimes


 * "Here it's not about a dictator. Here the issue is the corporation as a representative symbol. These things always spiral off into hitting the mom and pop stores, which is unfortunate," [says Boler.]"

British officials believe social media, particularly BlackBerry messenger, helped to ignite and organize rioters in Britain, but there are experts who say that such tools are now a fact of life and simply alternative forms of communication — whether for good or for evil.


 * "It's ubiquitous technology," Boler says of Facebook, Twitter, email and smartphones. "It's everywhere.""

Other than BlackBerry Messenger and social networking sites, the mobile phone operators T-Mobile and Orange prioritized police requests for information about the phones that were used to plan the wave of riots that hit British cities.
 * "Everything Everywhere, which owns the T-Mobile and Orange brands and operates more than a third of UK mobile phones, confirmed Tuesday that police had begun sending requests for information under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (RIPA)." This act requires phone companies to hand over data about the locations calls were made from, the owners of phones, and lists of calls made to and from a particular handset.

News reports stated that with the increase use of cell-phone use, blackberry messenger and twitter, rioters were spreading false claims of further police killings which had contributed to the spread of riots. Further research indicates that people may have been using social media to promote and incite rioting and looting which reflected social animosity for the rates of under-employment at the time. In some cases, the riots were seen as demonstrations of the socio-economical problems faced by many of the middle class



'''Social Networking

The 2011 Riots in England gained a notorious reputation in the eyes of observers through social media, for being very chaotic, and dangerous. The event displays how people react in an anarchy situation, and while many try to take advantage of the situation, other's were organizing their own cleanup effort. Through social networking sites like YouTube, people have shared their experiences and insights on the matter. Videos of rioting, and looting depict fanatical-like behaviour as the normal streets of places like, Hackney, London are transformed into scenes of shock and awe, as the noise of riot squads, broken glass, and citizen commotion riddle the air. User's of the YouTube community that live in England, were able to express their distress on the matter, as well as share their opinions about how to deal with the situation.


 * One user stated, "well, like I previously stated, less-lethals may serve some purpose here, but I still fear the reaction/retaliation of people. Will some of these people see it as an escalation, and maybe feel that it is necessary to "escalate as well" and also start using firearms against police. And if so, will the police still stick to using rubber bullets and bean-bags? increasing force is not equal to calming down the situation. That is a totalitarian approach, and might make it worse"

The community debated on socio-political factors such as policing tactics on how to defuse the situation. Other issues such as looting, destruction of property, vandalism, and crowd violence helped raise awareness and

Although London employs CCTV camera to monitor crime and large events, reports indicate that citizen footage has contributed more to capturing looters in action than the actual police force themselves. Beyond the eyes of the CCTVs, looters were being filmed and photographed without their identities shrouded, by hoodies, bandanas, balaclavas, and scarves. Police forces and investigators used websites like Flickr to find galleries of the looters in order to help solve and prevent cases of vandalism and further damage.

Facebook pages were also created in order to identify looters. The use of facial recognition software with social networks like Facebook allowed regular citizens to report criminals to authorities and tip off the local law enforcement riot squads about wanted and suspected looters. Social networking contributed largely to the apprehension of suspects of vandalism, property damage, and looting.

Several interactive maps were implemented onto the Google Maps website that showed satellite views of what was happening in the streets during the rioting. James Cridland, the managing director of the free media resources created a Google Map that tracked verified locations of rioting. Channel 4 News in the UK also had similar maps that progressively tracked the damage in the streets as well. News channels also were able to utilize this public service in order to capture live footage on the streets, and inform citizens of dangerous or crowded areas.

Many Facebook pages of the incident have also been created to honour some of the victims and those that were hurt during the Riots. Mark Duggan, and Trevor Ellis are only two of the few who have pages dedicated to remembering them, as the scale of the issue had grown to an enormous scale through the internet.