New Report: Social Media Not to Blame’ For Inciting UK Rioters

From a JISC Summary of the Report:

A multidisciplinary team led by Professor Rob Procter from The University of Manchester in a JISC funded study, found that instead, Twitter was a force for good – helping to mobilise the post-riot clean up.

It is published today (8 December) in the Guardian newspaper as part of its Reading the Riots investigation.

Professor Procter, who is based at The University’s Manchester e-Research Centre, said: “In August this year, social unrest spilled over onto the streets of English cities and the summer riots were the largest public disorder events in recent history.

“Politicians and commentators were quick to claim that social media played an important role in inciting and organising riots, calling for sites such as Twitter to be closed should events of this nature happen again.

“But our analysis found no evidence of significance in the data we have analysed that would justify such a course action in respect to Twitter.

“In contrast, we do find strong evidence that Twitter was a valuable tool for mobilising support for the post-riot clean up and for organising specific clean up activities.”

Read the Complete Summary

Direct to: “Twitter and the riots: how the news spread” (via The Guardian)

Direct to: “How Twitter was used to spread – and knock down – rumours during the riots” (via The Guardian)

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