After venturing out for dinner at 6pm, it was evident that the city had shut down within a matter of hours. There was an odd, chilling vibe in the city centre and as I walked down into Deansgate further into Manchester city centre, it became more and more apparent what had struck this fantastic city.
I watched in pure amazement as gangs of yobs smashed their ways into the likes of Ugg, Artizan, HSBC, Diesel to name but a few and watched as a photographer was bombarded by bottles and branded a 'snitch' as he was taking photographs. It was then that I heard one looter say "We need to BBM everyone to get over here now".
During the past three days we have been watching Twitter closely – news headlines have been delivered to us in real time and without a doubt in advance of the main TV news channels. For example, the photo I posted to twitter early afternoon, taken from my office window had over 500 hits within 2 hours.
What is demonstrates is the sheer power of Twitter (in this instance) for getting people together to do something and it proved a major communication tool for rioters, looters, spectators, businesses, police and journalists.
BBM (blackberry messenger) was caught up in the centre of the riots. Unlike social networks such as Facebook and Twitter, messages sent through BBM cannot be traced back to the sender and so acted as an effective way for rioters and looters to communicate. One BlackBerry message urged people to arm themselves with hammers and to bring cars, vans and even trollies to help them cart off stolen goods. It added: ‘What ever ends [area] your from put your ballys [balaclavas] on link up and cause havoc, just rob everything. Police can’t stop it.’
Another message referred to Oxford Circus where a mob of about 50 youths attacked several businesses.
It called on ‘everyone from all sides of London’ to meet up, smash up shops and get some ‘free stuff’, adding: ‘if you see a fed [police] ... SHOOT!’
It is with satisfaction to report that at least five people have so far been arrested for inciting hatred and riots. A looter also handed himself into police after seeing pictures of himself on facebook. And with reports today in the papers that 'spooks' are on the case with the BBM crowd .. it looks like we are cracking down on these social media yobs. However social media was also well used by 'the other side.
In particular The Greater Manchester Police @gmpolice and MEN journalists on Twitter were fantastic in communicating information to the General Public before, during and after the riots. The tweets were effective, informative and non speculative which is what was needed. It just goes to show how everyone, aswell as NPOs have embraced social media.
@riotcleanup and @riotcleanupmanc have done a brilliant job organising troops to hit the streets the next day and start the clean up process. An early start this morning but it was well worth it ! This is what is meant by community spirit. It just goes to show - it doesn't matter how big the City is - we are a community and we will unite together to support those around us and keep our streets clean!
This proves without doubt that if you aren’t on Twitter in some way you probably should be as so much of the world uses it, but it also proves that ‘real time’ updates are far more swift than anything the news channels can compete with.
A thoroughly interesting story is of course still evolving but it makes me proud to be working in this field – getting a real experience with people we only know from our online work and like all those who have arranged a unit in their communities and used Social Media to round up helpers is truly admirable and shows a real human spirit!
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