Another great example of the impact that social networks can have on specific events is the London riots. We all saw reports or news bulletins with information regarding the riots and the part that social networks played but how much of an impact did social networks?
It was the shooting of Mark Duggan on the 4th of August that sparked a series of riots (which can be followed on this interactive timeline) The first form of social media recognised was the use of Blackberry messenger which was named as a "key tool in the organisation of activities" and it was later released that Police would be investigating and would be able to track down and arrest those whom had been organising and communicating via BBM. Like what happened in Egypt (but in relation to phone networks not the internet) the government shut off phone communication networks in order to stop/ prevent protests which only seemed to spark more!
After the phone networks were turned off the blame for the riots was next shifted to social networking sites Facebook and Twitter.. The Guardian complied a unique database with over 2.5million tweets with relation to the riots which have been presented in a time line "Twitter traffic during the riots" (Definitely worth a look) which shows patterns with relation to events which occurred.
Although social networks and other forms of modern day technology had a lot to blame they also had a major affect on the clean up from the riots. What do you think about the affects of social networking and new media technology and the effect that it has on riots and events (mena, Cronulla riots etc)? Could more have been done to prevent this sort of affect?
I also found this interesting fact.. (Seems appropriate as my assignment is on e-retail and it also relates to this blog post...)
During the riots Amazon.co.uk's top sports and leisure sellers included police batons and baseball bats..
After the phone networks were turned off the blame for the riots was next shifted to social networking sites Facebook and Twitter.. The Guardian complied a unique database with over 2.5million tweets with relation to the riots which have been presented in a time line "Twitter traffic during the riots" (Definitely worth a look) which shows patterns with relation to events which occurred.
Although social networks and other forms of modern day technology had a lot to blame they also had a major affect on the clean up from the riots. What do you think about the affects of social networking and new media technology and the effect that it has on riots and events (mena, Cronulla riots etc)? Could more have been done to prevent this sort of affect?
I also found this interesting fact.. (Seems appropriate as my assignment is on e-retail and it also relates to this blog post...)
During the riots Amazon.co.uk's top sports and leisure sellers included police batons and baseball bats..
