Over the past 72 hours we’ve all been glued to the news coverage of the London and Croydon riots – we’ve seen the youths, some as young as 12 apparently, mindlessly destroying businesses and properties, killing innocent people and lustily looting items from vandalised stores.
As always, the finger of blame has to be pointed somewhere. Originally it was the fault of the Police for the shooting of Mark Duggan in Tottenham last week, then the Government for cutting funding to local services and finally the fault was deemed to be with social networking sites after riots were allegedly organised using BlackBerry Messenger, Twitter and Facebook. It has been claimed that social media incited the increased violence because rioters were able to use the services to make contact with large numbers of ‘like minded’ people quickly and easily.
But hold your horses a minute – social media platforms are merely a tool for communication! Is it Twitter’s fault that a criminal minority used their 140 characters to post a message inviting others to join them in their ‘mission’? Is it Apple’s fault if they used an iPhone to access Twitter? Is it O2’s fault for providing a 3G network to give them access to the internet? How about the bank? They provided the cash that allowed the rioters to top up their phone or pay their telephone contract each month after all!
We can just blame everyone can’t we? Everyone that is, except the people who sent or responded to the messages. The people who made the decision to go on a rampage of destruction. The people who climbed through the smashed windows of PC World and Wimpy and walked out with a Plasma TV or a freshly cooked burger!
Let’s get real!
It isn’t the Government’s fault. We’re not America having our credit rating reduced – yes we’ve lost services and seen taxes rise but the UK is still economically surviving. There are still jobs for those who look for them and there are businesses working hard to be successful. The emergency services aren’t at fault either – they’re doing a remarkable job in very difficult circumstances – often working in life or death situations for very little reward. The blame lies entirely with the people who made that decision to follow the crowd without thinking or caring about the repercussions – driven only by the benefit of a nice new telly in their bedroom for nowt!
Social media is not the root of these problems – last night it was an extremely valuable resource for the public to learn up to the minute information. From the news agencies publishing facts about the unfolding events, to the public uniting together in distress at what is happening to our beloved country. Today Facebook has seen the rise of pages declaring support for all the brave and committed personnel who are facing danger to protect us. Twitter has recruited thousands into @riotcleanup – a national army of volunteers dedicated to helping the small businesses affected by this atrocity to get cleared up and operating again as soon as possible. Several social media platforms are being utilised to circulate the CCTV images of the offenders, in the hope that users can help bring them to justice. Let’s stop blaming social media for the rise in criminality and see the advantages of this vast and mostly law-abiding community concerned about our future.
A bad workman blames his tools – the rest of us will be watching the news feeds and supporting each other on social media!
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Nobody can really point the finger and say social media is directly linked to the London riots although it is very possible. What we must remember is that every good thing can be abused or used in a way not intended such as prescription drugs. Also the if you look at the larger picture the good things social media offers society far outweighs the bad.
Thanks Ade
I saw today that David Cameron is proposing to put Twitter under a curfew which totally demonstrates how little he understands about social media!
Ironically the Chief of Greater Manchester Police said today that “when all is weighed up, social media has been of great benefit, in particular Twitter”. Different Police forces have different levels of awareness with some using Twitter very well and others not.
I hope DC takes advice from a SM educated adviser before making a bad decision in haste!
They blame social media:: The rush to judgement, or is it just blame is so ill considered it leaves right thinking people foaming at the mouth. SM, the Blackberry messenger, Twitter etc etc are as the author possits, are merely tools. Of course someone could have shut down BBM, I’ll say it now, and I’ll say it again, it would only have made things a smidgen less convenient for the participants of the sickening events of which we were witness.
Shuting down BBM would have brought to life that saying ‘a people who are will to sacrifice a bit of liberty [to communicate with SM tools] for a bit of liberty are deserving of neither].
Perhaps the response from the police was ill considered, but most importantly they did not bring forth the destruction. In this land, anyone carrying a firearm does not wish his fellow man well!
Of course I feel so strongly about the mayhem, no one, absolutely no one has the right to trash my town. It is events like these that cause agnostics to consider belief in a supreme being, as the capacity to forgive such low actions are beyond the capacity of mortals.
Thanks Julie
V – great post – especially in reminding that blame lies with those who made the decision to behave in this outrageous fashion. Doubtless there are other factors at play, but let’s not lose sight of what they’ve done and how they’ve done it.
You make a very good point about football hooligans in the 80’s and let’s not forget the Poll Tax riots too. All pre social media!
I agree that the good of social media will be extremely beneficial to rounding up the perpetuators and the longer lasting memories of this event in relation to social media will be positives.
Thanks for commenting 🙂
Well said Veronica. It is very easy to blame social media for anti social behaviour but the football hooligans of the ’80s managed very well without it. Clever use of social media by the authorities will reveal the culprits and there are experts out there who I am sure can help them…
Thanks for your comment Lisa. Like you’ve demonstrated there are so many positive reasons to use social media that it is a pity when the negatives get voiced so loudly!
Great post, Veronica! So with you on this! People must learn, once and for all, individually WE are responsible for our own actions or lack of action(s), not others. In this case, definitely NOT social media! Just because it’s a communication tool does not make it a work of the devil!
By using the power of Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn, I was able to help my husband’s company find clients and alert them to a blown transformer that later had to be repaired (the transformer knocked out all power in the building). I simply asked my friends and followers to send out the messages and updates I posted. They did so willingly. The result: no loss of customers and no angry phone calls, even though their service was down over 12 hours.
I follow four chats a week using Twitter, and let my followers know in both Facebook and LinkedIn what I’m learning about that chat.
I’ve made new connections, new friends (including you and Bill, Veronica), and learned more about my industry and social media (my second industry). I’ve even attended a Tweet-meet for BNI (#BNICroydon) when it was too snowy to go out (and I live in Glendale, Arizona, BTW) and attended a wedding in Twitter!
Folks, social media is what you intend it to be. Use it responsibly, act responsibly. Be memorable and communicate wisely.