Elijah Paul

BBM, Twitter, Social Media, and the London riots.

Elijah Paul -

The last few days has seen London experience some of the worst rioting, looting, and violence I've seen in my (short) lifetime. The majorty of which seems to have been perpetrated by a specific age group. Youths. Ranging from those as young as 10, to those in their late 20s ( in some cases older ).

Motivation for, and propagation of these riots is a much more complex matter than I'm prepared (or qualified) to cover here. Suffice to say that I believe it stems partly from a multi layered failing in many parts of society and government, effectively breeding a generation of youth who are misguided, disaffected, disengaged, apathetic, and suffering from disillusionment with low self-esteem to add. Obviously this does'nt excuse the atrocious behaviour of these rioters over the past 4 days, which has sadly claimed livelihoods as well as lives.

One story that's received agency wide coverage is that Social Media networks were to blame, or at least largely responsible for fuelling the riots through facilitating these groups of rioting youths with the means to organize themselves in creating this mayhem and destruction.  Networks such as Twitter and BBM ( Blackberry Messenger ) bared the brunt of responsibility as the main 'tools' utilized. BBM in particular being described as a 'shadow network' by some news agencies!

BBM, a 'securely' encrypted service, initially intended mainly as a supplement to email for corporate workers when they needed to briefly communicate with co-workers outside an office environment, became popular with young people, because in comparion to SMS it is (virtually) free, doesn't limit your message character count, allows sharing of multimedia such as video and pictures, and is instant.

Another important feature which aided its popularity is the 'Groups' feature, which allows users to form their own private chat groups, where communication within and to all groups members via a single message ( again for free ) is possible. On top of BBMs organic rise in popularity amongst the UK's youth demographic, RIM ( Research In Motion ) has ( of late ) increasingly marketed BBM to the young via celebrity affiliations and endorsements, particularly in the music industry, all boosting sales and awareness of it handsets and brand.

The first problem I find with laying blame at RIMs (& Twitters) door, is that in the case of these riots, social networks, like all technological tools are subject to misuse according to the users disposition. Adults can often underestimate the resourcefulness of today's youth. Had a 'Twitter' or 'BBM' network not been available to these essentially impromptu marauding gangs of youths, then another networking ‘tool’ would've taken their place.

Services such as BBM and Twitter apps, which are provided virtually free of charge in the UK, does mean easier access ( and one of the few options ) for those of lesser financial means, and those not in employment due to still being in the education system. However I don't believe lack of access to services such as BBM and Twitter would have prevented the spread of riots, only slowed them down ( which would've been of obvious benefit in quelling the disorder ).

Blackberry UKs response via Twitter in the midst of these riots was very interesting:

In my eyes the above tweet indicates Blackberry UKs essentially weak attempt at a heartfelt message ( granted 140 characters tends to limit the degree to which one can express themselves ). It also seemed deliberately vague in terms of the extent to which they were/are willing to assist authorities. This is obviously due in-part to protecting themselves legally as well as keeping their 'co-operation' options open at a chaotic and uncertain stage of the riots.

RIM has a history of protecting the privacy of the data and users on their network. Last year RIM was engaged in multiple disputes with countries such as India and Saudi Arabia regarding access to private data transmitted and held by their services. Specifically in the case of Saudi Arabia, RIM and the UAE were in a deadlock over the UAE's requests to monitor and access Blackberry's encrypted network communications including BBM. RIM eventually conceded and allowed these countries limited ability to monitor RIMs network data. ( see this article by the guardian.co.uk Saudi BlackBerry messaging ban: security or snooping? ) This further explains the cautious wording of their ( then ) single tweet.

Another thing I found interesting is that there were reports that once threats of BBM being shut down surfaced, rioters moved to an alternative private messaging 'social' network ( I'm not sure which yet ) mid riot. Reasons for the switch seemed to allude to the fact that said network operated outside the UK and was therefore not subject to UK laws. This further demonstrated the resourcefulness and determination of the rioters  to continue causing mayhem with whatever networking tools were available to them at the time.

Calls ( IMO ) to temporarily suspend the service may have been effective in slowing the spread of violence, but I'm sure the hardcore elements within the riots would have continued the looting and destruction of property and businesses. Plus I'm sure RIM had concerns ( not admittedly of course ) of alienating the very consumer demographic they've been trying so hard to market their products to.

In summation, I just don't believe that BBM, Twitter, or social networks in general should bore as much blame as has been reported by some of the UK media and individuals.