Choose a topic from the readings or the lecture or one of the points below, and write your first post in response to that idea. Dig a bit deeper and provide a reference to further reading.
Did social media cause the British Riots??????
The british riots were apparently organized via social media according to British Prime Minister David Cameron as he was addressing the parliament. "Everyone watching these horrific actions will be struck by how they were organized via social media" (Huang 2011).
Allegedly Facebook and Twitter, and an instant messaging service BlackBerry Messenger, had been used to exchange messages on the time and place of various attacks.
It is easy to see how social media played a vital role in the spread of information and the organization of the riots but it is ridiculous to conclude that the riots were 'caused' by social media itself. Social media is just a tool and were are also people using it for good reasons. Saying that it caused the riots is like saying that it's not the murders fault the victim got killed, it's the gun's fault. "They used it to find out what was happening in different areas and to communicate the kind of good news that the mainstream media are not usually interested in," said Profess Claire Warwick, Director of the Center for Digital Humanities at University College London (Huang 2011).
Huang, k 2011, News Analysis: Social media in focus after British riots, viewed Saturday 3 September <http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2011-08/15/c_131048782.htm>
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