Saturday the 6 August 2011 and the streets of Tottenham are set ablaze by rioting.
As many people will recall, it isn’t the first time this has happened. On 6 October 1985 a notorious riot occurred on the Broadwater Farm Estate that led to the murder of PC Keith Blakelock.
On both occasions the disturbances were triggered by deaths caused by police. In the first instance it was that of Cynthia Jarrett, an African Caribbean woman who died during a police search of her home. This latest incident was sparked by the shooting of Mark Duggan, a 29 year old man killed during an alleged gunfight with police on Thursday.
As I write this in the early hours of Sunday morning, the disturbance is ongoing and it is not yet clear how serious an incident this will become.
In recent public disturbances such as the Student protests, commentary has focused on the role that social networks such as Twitter and Facebook have played in the planning of demonstrations and coordination of protesters. By contrast in this riot it appears the social network of choice is one provided by none other than BlackBerry.
Blackberry’s have been produced by Research In Motion (RIM) since 1999. They were originally associated with busy office executives who needed to access their emails on the move, but in recent years they have become increasingly popular within youth and urban cultures. I have to admit that I found this puzzling. It took my far cooler 17 year old nephew to explain that the main reason for their popularity is due to BBM – BlackBerry Messenger.
BBM as it is known, is an instant messenger system that has become popular for three main reasons: it’s fast (naturally), it’s virtually free, and unlike Twitter or Facebook, it’s private.
Blackberry recognized the appeal of their products to the urban market and has had a long association with Jay-z in the States. In the UK, they recently hosted a ‘secret gig’ in Shoreditch Town Hall featuring Tinie Tempah, Wretch 32 and Devlin.
So what has all this got to do with the riots in Tottenham?
Well, it appears that BBM messages have been circulating since Thursday’s shooting of Duggan by the police. These have fuelled the anger of the youths that have taken to the streets. BBM was also the channel used to spread the word that the riot had started, and from what I can tell on Twitter, it appears to be the means by which communications continue to be shared.
The key point here is that although these messages are spreading virally, by being shared via BBM they have been less visible to the outside world, making them harder to track.
I am not a security intelligence expert so I don’t know the extent to which the police are able to monitor the BBM network, but Canadian police officers have previously complained that criminals prefer using Blackberry Messenger because it is harder to wiretap.
As we have seen throughout the world this year, when angry young people utilize social networks to communicate and coordinate publically or privately, the results can be explosive.
Photo Credits: LEON NEAL/AFP/Getty Images via Flickr
UPDATE: It appears that the Daily Mail has found a way to pin the blame for yesterday’s riot in Tottenham on Twitter. This is because ‘a picture of a burning police car was re-tweeted more than 100 times’. However, as pointed out here, the logic doesn’t quite stack up, as the Mail (and every other news channel) was also responsible for sharing these images with far larger audiences.
Still, it’s prehaps not surprising that journalists defaulted to blaming the usual suspects.
HI there. This is quite insightful. The high function but low cost of BB’s compared with iPhones, their popularity with role models likes footballers and the existence of BBIM has created something of a shadow social network. Work I’ve done with young people through my professional activity has shown BBIM to be consistently more popular than Twitter.
Just to add, it’s also really hard to see into Facebook. I suspect a huge number of Facebook status messages related to this event last night but as there is no way to read them, the press has taken the lazy option and called it a ‘Twitter riot’.
Twitter and Facebook can be made private just like BBM, there is always someone who bridges the message to his or her social group from one medium to the other.
Thanks for your comments. I like your use of the phrase ‘shadow social network’ as this is the point that I was trying to make about BBM not getting the same attention as Twitter, but in many ways being a more powerful medium for young people.
I saw several Facebook status updates and pictures last night that referred to the events taking place in Tottenham, but a key distinction between the two platforms is that mum’s, dad’s, aunts and uncles are likely to be found on Facebook, but they’re unlikely to be on the BBM network, giving young people more freedom to communicate.
“police officers have previously complained that criminals prefer using Blackberry Messenger because it is harder to wiretap.”
Implying that a desire for privacy makes you a criminal.
Dan, that’s not what that quote means at all. That’s just you projecting.
Good article.
This post is really thought provoking and brings up memories of an issue about Dubai’s planned ban on Blackberry http://on.mash.to/9QWGVP due to “security concerns”.
There is a reason that President Obama and the UN use Blackberry, as well by the looks of it the adolescents and the criminal masterminds – it is easy to use, highly encrypted and quick. It doesn’t take a DC Comic writer to be able to figure that it can be used both for good and evil.
When I gave up my Blackberry for an iPhone the BBM was the one thing that made me think twice about the switch (in the end it was not a strong enough reason to stay).
As for Twitter, the police should really be monitoring the firehose and have procedures for responses as soon as something is picked up. I would guess that by the time it hits Twitter though, the incident will be in full flight and they should already be responding to the issue.
@ross bailey You can use http://youropenbook.org/ to search facebook statuses
Dan is right! But not just police tapping (illegally most of the time). Whole CCTV culture that we are now stuck with was forced on people using the logic that if you are not comfortable with it, than you MUST have something to hide.
Interestingly, when police killed Ian Tomlinson, the CCTV footage went missing!
I have nothing against the sentiment of what Dan said, and I agree that there is a presumption at times that if you want privacy you have something to hide, but that quote and the article it refers to have nothing to do with the conclusion he has drawn from it.
The Canadian police were complaining that organised crime is using the extra level of security BBM provides and, crucially, their own encryption to make it very difficult to keep tabs. This is very different to what is going on in London at the moment and thus the correlation doesn’t really exist.
I think that the rioters fall into 2 camps. There’s dolts who upload pictures of themselves law-breaking on Twitter. And smarts who use BBM. I fear the second.
Good Article
[...] fact that BBM is a private or shadow social network was also proposed by Jonathan Akwue and mentioned by Butcher – but the importance of this factor cannot be underestimated. In the [...]
Excellent insight Jon. Some countries in the Middle East were thinking about, or have banned BBM due to it’s secure nature. Here’s a BBC article on it from last year:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-10830485
Interestingly, only last month Dubai issued a BBM pin to message people:
http://www.emirates247.com/news/emirates/dubai-police-issues-special-blackberry-pin-2011-07-13-1.407412
The Met need to get up to speed on this. They were certainly caught flat-footed.
[...] This post was Twitted by jordanstone [...]
[...] UrbanMashup has posted a great report on how the Tottenham Riots were organised and discussed. While the broad media blamed Twitter as the mechanism to fuel the flames, there’s evidence that many of those involved used BBM. [...]
[...] Interesting technological observations here from the Urban Mashup Blog: In recent public disturbances such as the Student protests, commentary [...]
[...] Urban Mashup blog details how word of a revolt on the streets of Tottenham started spreading on BBM as early as Thursday, hours after Duggan was shot by police [...]
[...] Appealing technological observations here from the Urban Mashup Blog: In recent public [...]
Thanks for this insight.
A Londoner from Afar
[...] Urban Mashup blog details how word of a revolt on the streets of Tottenham started spreading on BBM as early as Thursday, hours after Duggan was shot by police [...]
[...] The Urban Mashup notes the differences between former protests and the London riots: "In recent public disturbances such as the student protests, commentary has focused on the role that social networks such as Twitter and Facebook have played in the planning of demonstrations and coordination of protesters. [...]
[...] fact, as Partner at Engine group Jonathan Akwue points out in his blog, it wasn’t Facebook or Twitter that fuelled the riots, but most probably BBM – [...]
[...] According to several media reports from the United Kingdom, rather than using public social networks such as Facebook and Twitter to spread word of the riots and communicate during the melee, looters and protesters in London were using RIM’s BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) instant messaging application to relay information to one another. [...]
[...] his blog Urban Mashup, social media strategist Jonathan Akwue made a longer case for why BBM played a bigger role in organizing [...]
[...] Interesting technological observations here from the Urban Mashup Blog: In recent public disturbances such as the Student protests, commentary [...]
[...] his blog Urban Mashup, social media strategist Jonathan Akwue made a longer case for why BBM played a bigger role in organizing [...]
[...] this smart post by Jonathan Akwue – who was amongst the first to raise the BBM connection – points out, BBM is [...]
[...] Motion’s BlackBerry Messenger system (BBM) was the contact method of choice for many rioters. This piece by Jon Akwue seems like one of the first to point out the link: “It appears that BBM messages have been [...]
[...] his blog Urban Mashup, social media strategist Jonathan Akwue made a longer case for why BBM played a bigger role in organizing [...]
Interesting article – but there’s a difference between a medium being used for co-ordination and it ‘fueling’ riots. This trouble has been caused and exacerbated by a combination of factors – focus on the technology used to organise it will lead to more surveillance and less actual attention to addressing underlying issues.
[...] he explained on his blog, there are good reasons that the service may have been adopted by those on London’s margins: [...]
[...] city and our residents that you shall get away with this, you barbarians. Being organised by online social networks and BB messaging (by gad that came to bite us on the bum didn’t it?), this unlikely accomplice for the rioters [...]
[...] for many of those involved in the unrest is BlackBerry’s instant messaging system BBM. Messages have been flying around in this channel since Thursday, shortly after the fatal police shoo… For those of us who study our handset demographics, this isn’t a great surprise. iPhones are the [...]
[...] The Urban Mashup notes the differences between former protests and the London riots: “In recent public disturbances such as the student protests, commentary has focused on the role that social networks such as Twitter and Facebook have played in the planning of demonstrations and coordination of protesters. [...]
[...] and Twitter to see if they are being used as part of the effort. But blogger and media strategist Jonathan Akuwe was the first to point to BlackBerry Messenger. “BBM as it is known, is an instant messenger [...]
[...] his blog Urban Mashup, social media strategist Jonathan Akwue made a longer case for why BBM played a bigger role in organizing [...]
[...] London Riots: Facebook, Twitter or Blackberry? Here’s a claim no tech marketing department wants: the official network of choice for the London riots. In today’s blog chatter, it appears that Blackberry is the, umm, winner. As TechCrunch notes, Blackberry’s instant messenger system has the benefit of being free, fast, most importantly, private. It is the top group messaging app in the U.K., the blog notes and, as a result, “BlackBerrys have become the weapon of choice of Britain’s disaffected youth.” [100gf, TechCrunch, Urban Mashup] [...]
[...] Interesting technological observations here from the Urban Mashup Blog: In recent public disturbances such as the Student protests, commentary [...]
[...] However, the most powerful and up-to-the-minute rallying appears to have taken place on a more covert social network: BlackBerry Messenger (BBM). [...]
[...] However, the most powerful and up-to-the-minute rallying appears to have taken place on a more covert social network: BlackBerry Messenger (BBM). [...]
[...] full place on a more stealthy shared arrangement: BlackBerry Courier (BBM).By BlackBerry handsets – the smartphone of scale [...]
Great piece and an example of the why the media are becoming very negative towards social media http://www.whycommunicate.co.uk/?p=2675 however as you pinted out a large amount of this activity is via BBM which isnt really social media even if it has been described as “covert social media” by some channels?
[...] for many of those involved in the unrest is BlackBerry’s instant messaging system BBM. Messages have been flying around in this channel since Thursday, shortly after the fatal police shoo… For those of us who study our handset demographics, this isn’t a great surprise. iPhones are the [...]
[...] focused on Blackberry's private messaging service, known as BBM. London tech and media specialist Jonathan Akwue wrote a post on his blog outlining the case for Blackberry as the messaging vector of choice for the rioters. "BBM as it is [...]
Given the blame pointed at social networking for the recent round of riots, it’s amazing that the 1980s rioters managed to throw a single petrol bomb without the internet for instructions and social apps to organise their street mobs. Same with the French Revolution, the Tolpuddle Martyrs and the fall of the Soviet Union. How did they get off the ground without networked communications tools?
Social movements do not need Twitter, Facebook or BlackBerry messaging to succeed — they need any method of communication (like talking to the bloke next to you) and a sense of injustice (or futility or boredom) to motivate action.
Social movements do not need Twitter, Facebook or BlackBerry messaging to succeed
Wrote about this briefly too – http://bit.ly/ppB2dP – Easy to blame prevalent technologies!
[...] the violence and looting erupted on that night, I wrote a post on my Urban Mashup blog about how young people appeared to be using the Blackberry Messenger network (known as BBM) to [...]
Funny how such impoverished people manage to all have Blackberries….
[...] 9.38am: Interesting technological observations here from the Urban Mashup Blog: In recent public disturbances such as the Student protests, commentary has focused on the role that social networks such as Twitter and Facebook have played in the planning of demonstrations and coordination of protesters. By contrast in this riot it appears the social network of choice is one provided by none other than BlackBerry. [...]
[...] of current youth culture. From the research we conducted, we had recently picked up on the use of Blackberry mobile devices as a way to achieve private communication. The research also confirmed the use of term ‘Status’ was very appropriate as Status [...]
[...] 7th August 2011, our Strategy Director, Jonathan Akwue wrote this post on his blog about the use of BBM to fuel the riots in London. His coverage was picked up by the [...]
[...] However, the most powerful and up-to-the-minute rallying appears to have taken place on a more covert social network: BlackBerry Messenger (BBM). [...]
[...] Blackberry? Is it e-mail? The Internet? The ability to open multiple applications at once? Nope. It’s BBM. Free texting mixed with social network style updates. RIM is even trying to extend their brand by [...]