Reading the riots on twitter lift12

READINGTHE RIOTSON TWITTER Rob Procter (University of Manchester) Farida Vis (University of Leicester)Alexander Voss (University of St Andrews) [Funded by JISC] #readingtheriots

READINGTHE RIOTSON TWITTER UK riots (6-9 August 2011) Police shoot and kill Mark Duggan on 4 August. [Day 1 Tottenham – 6 August] People gather outside the police station in Tottenham to speak to a senior officer. No one speaks to them. 9pm family leaves, tensions grow. Police cars set on fire. Intense looting, further fires and running battles with the police ensue.

READINGTHE RIOTSON TWITTER [day 2]

READINGTHE RIOTS [Day 2: rest of London]ON TWITTER Riots spread to Enfield, 6 miles north of Tottenham. Fewer clashes with the police, more focused on looting shops. Similar disturbances in the south, in Brixton. Further minor outbreaks elsewhere in London, including in Oxford Circus, Hackney and Waltham Forrest.

READINGTHE RIOTS [Day 3: The disorder spreads]ON TWITTER Monday saw the most intense 24 hours of civil unrest in recent history. 22 out of London‟s 32 boroughs were affected. Two people dead. Rioting spreads to the Midlands, Birmingham, West Bromwich, Nottingham, Leicester, Liverpool and elsewhere.

READINGTHE RIOTS [Day 4: Extra policing]ON TWITTER Unprecedented numbers of police in London. Only minor incidents in the capital. Rioting continues in the rest of the UK, including in Birmingham where 3 young men were killed while protecting shops. Disturbances in Manchester and Salford – intense looting of the city centre.

READING What was going on?THE RIOTSON TWITTER “Criminality pure and simple” [Government repeatedly claimed] NO links to poverty, lack of education, opportunity, economic situation NO NEED FOR AN INQUIRY (nothing to see here, move along)

READING The accusationTHE RIOTSON TWITTER SOCIAL MEDIA = TO BLAME FOR THE RIOTS BBM = Facebook = Twitter Blackberry messenger closed network

READING The accusersTHE RIOTSON TWITTER David Cameron, Prime Minister …“whether it would be right to stop people communicating via these websites and services when we know they are plotting violence, disorder and criminality”. On the riots: “struck by how they were organised via social media”. Louise Mensch, Conservative MP Proposed temporary shutdown of Facebook and Twitter. “Common sense. If riot info and fear is spreading by Facebook& Twitter, shut them off for an hour or two, then restore. World wont implode”.

READINGTHE RIOTSON TWITTER The arrested

READING The defendersTHE RIOTSON TWITTER THE POLICE (among many others) Vital channel of communication Kevin Hoy, web manager Greater Manchester police Twitter allows for “direct reassurance” and “dispel rumours … in a way that we could never have achieved previously” On Use of Twitter: “overwhelmingly positive”

READING The general publicTHE RIOTSON TWITTER Two-thirds support social networking blackout in future riots “A poll of 973 adults carried out for the online security firm Unisys found 70% of adults supported the shutdown of Twitter, Facebook and Blackberry Messenger (BBM), while only 27% disagreed.” Support strongest among 65+, weakest among 18-24 year olds.

READINGTHE RIOTSON TWITTER Groundbreaking study + conference

READINGTHE RIOTSON TWITTER What role did social media play? 2.6 million riot tweets (donated by Twitter) 700,000 individual accounts Initially: o Role of Rumours o Did incitement take place? [no – #riotcleanup] o What is the role of different actors on Twitter?

READINGTHE RIOTSON TWITTER Early Twitter hashtag visualisation

READINGTHE RIOTSON TWITTER

READINGTHE RIOTS #riotcleanup – seen potentially by 7ON TWITTER million users

READING Role of RumoursTHE RIOTSON TWITTER

READING No evidence of incitementTHE RIOTSON TWITTER BUT… Celebrating having started rumours (on the #readingtheriotshashtag) Compete to get the best rumour adopted? Vitriol against looters

READINGTHE RIOTSON TWITTER Who tweeted the riots? - individuals 1. riotcleanup 40960 mentions 2. paullewis 30031 mentions 3. piersmorgan 20412 mentions 4. bbcnews 18836 mentions 5. itv_news 15177 mentions 6. bbcbreaking 13476 mentions 7. guardian 11513 mentions 8. lawcol888 9290 mentions 9. simonpegg 9240 mentions 10. gmpolice 8904 mentions

READINGTHE RIOTSON TWITTER Who tweeted the riots? - categories Top 200 Twitter accounts by actor type140000 125768120000 < mainstream media100000 7904380000 < journalists 59193 < riot accounts60000 51534 4586940000 30839 32308 25464 22896 16136 1816320000 13303 14065 < 8285 4607 5757 5962 3196 spoof 4011 1031 0

READINGTHE RIOTSON TWITTER Who tweeted the riots? Lots of different kinds of users o Mainstream media + individual journalists mentioned most. o Riotcleanup most mentioned individual account. o Greater Manchester Police in the top 10 individual accounts. Emergency services low overall. Organise – broadcast – find information – voice opinions – satire the riots, rioters and commentators

READINGTHE RIOTSON TWITTER lawcol888‟s broom army picture

READINGTHE RIOTSON TWITTER Who tweeted the riots? Lots of different kinds of users o Mainstream media + individual journalists mentioned most. o Riotcleanup most mentioned individual account. o Greater Manchester Police in the top 10 individual accounts. Emergency services low overall. Organise – broadcast – find information – voice opinions – satire the riots, rioters and commentators

READINGTHE RIOTSON TWITTER 3 spoof accounts in top 200 Number 13, 6697 mentions Number 20, 5939 mentions Number 23, 5527 mentions

READINGTHE RIOTSON TWITTER Satirical comments and images Fake PR for Rupert Murdoch:„SkyNews is right. #LondonRiots all Twitter‟s fault. Give Twitter to me, we‟ll strip it of importance and relevancy like we did to MySpace.‟ Can‟t get into BBM? „just ask News International‟ Images of people planking during the riots

READINGTHE RIOTSON TWITTER Conclusions Predictions o Understand context o Listening platform (40%) o Local context important o Improve role of police o The rise of individuals o Downside of police on Twitter? o Better contain rumours o Build on teams that can o Better distribute handle and rapidly information analyse big data o Role of the emergency o Where will crisis services - Everyday communication move? Platforms? Streaming?

READINGTHE RIOTS Jonathan Richards Alastair DantON TWITTER Katie Loweth Marta Cantijoch Yana Manyukhina Rob Procter (University of Manchester) Mike Thelwall Farida Vis (University of Leicester) Steven GrayAlexander Voss (University of St Andrews) Rachel Gibson [Funded by JISC] Andy Hudson Smithhttp://www.analysingsocialmedia.org/

http://www.internetactu.net	1532
http://bluelightcamp.wordpress.com	400
http://markbraggins.wordpress.com	371
http://feeds.feedburner.com	90
http://storify.com	80
http://www.twylah.com	31
http://lemixbynico.tumblr.com	26
https://twitter.com	25
http://lanyrd.com	22
http://www.netoo.fr	16
http://www.serdalab.com	11
http://www.gaudry.be	8
http://lanyrd.dev	6
http://fr.flavors.me	6
http://mhsaiea.tumblr.com	5
http://www.charentesreseaux.com	5
http://flavors.me	4
http://feedproxy.google.com	4
http://us-w1.rockmelt.com	3
http://www.newsblur.com	1
http://tweetedtimes.com	1
http://translate.googleusercontent.com	1
http://127.0.0.1	1
http://pigeindexer2	1
http://philum.info	1
http://localhost	1

Reading the riots on twitter lift12

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