Is Blackberry the catalyst for ‘social media’ riots? (Social media satire 23)
As a social media blogger I never expected to be getting into social media politics, but it’s the 21st century and here we are.
Is it foolish to blame social media, or more specifically Blackberry, for the recent riots in London and around the UK? Yes, of course it is.
However, because BBM is an encrypted service that is owned and operated by RIM (Research In Motion), the manufacturers of Blackberry, and RIM refuse to allow the authorities access to their clients messages, Westminster considers that Blackberry could well be the catalyst for the riots.
If the rioters didn’t have Blackberry’s would they find another way to communicate? Of course they would! Will some people be put off buying Blackberry products and will Blackberry, or RIM, be found guilty by association? Probably, or at least to some extent and to me, that just doesn’t seem right.
Some of the ‘gangsta’s’ used BMX bikes apparently, maybe we should ban BMX bikes too? They wore trainers too, maybe we should also ban trainers?
We’ve had plenty of riots in the UK over the years and long before social media and Blackberry! Did they have Blackberry’s in the 1743 London Gin riots? I don’t think so! What we really need to look at is the cause of the riots.
Is social media really to blame? Social media is a big subject and covers a lot of ground, should we also blame LinkedIn, Quora, Behance and Google+? They’re social media platforms; maybe we should be more specific or perhaps we should also include nujij, virb and xerpi? Social media is social media, right?
That’s enough about riots and who exactly is to blame, I’m sure enough time and money will be spent by experts looking into the cause and effect over the next decade or two.
- Oh my blog (traffic)!
Inspired by a little research I carried out that turned up some interesting facts, I recently wrote a blog post about the politics spam. The result so far has been an average response and a few days of severe paranoia due to a weekend dip in blog traffic. Maybe it’s just me? Maybe it’s because a lot of people are on holiday right now, but ever since the post went out my blog traffic has dropped! Maybe I’ll stick to writing more positive content and not get involved with potential hackers that might not appreciate what I have to say.
I recently read an article from Cori Padgett on CopyBlogger about finding your blogging voice and it reminded me that I recently recommended two new bloggers, friends from Twitter and Empire Avenue. I wondered what I would have done if their blog posts hadn’t actually as been as good as I had expected, what would I have said to those guys? Blogging may seem easy, but consistency is key and finding around 750 words of interesting content with interesting graphics or photographs and publishing posts at least twice a week, isn’t always that easy.
Let’s face it, not everyone is destined to blog! If you find blogging hard and you struggle with ideas and words, take up jogging instead, it sounds almost the same.
It was only last week that I was speculating if Klout would continue to expand and connect to other social media platforms and lo and behold they have! I wondered if they’d connect to WordPress and Posterous among others and apparently, they’re considering it.
How about Empire Avenue and StumbleUpon? Come on Klout, do the right thing! CLICK here for the current Klout networks, coming soon WordPress, Quora, Yelp and Posterous. I said that all the time and effort time put into Empire Avenue was justified, didn’t I?
Let me know what you think about Klout and the effects of its recent growth in connections.
If you would like to know more about any aspects of social media or if you have any questions that you would like us to answer, you can email us or leave a comment on this blog. Our social media and digital business development advice is FREE! For regular social media updates please subscribe to our newsletter.If you find this information interesting, please give it a Google + CLICK and also share it on Facebook, Twitter, StumbleUpon, Digg, or whichever social media platform you prefer. Social media is all about sharing information, so spread the good news!
Related articles
- Minority Report – Predicting A Riot Is Impossible On Social Media (techcrunch.com)
- The UK Is Considering Shutting Down Twitter, Social Media After Huge Riots (businessinsider.com)
- Cameron Exploring Crackdown on Social Media After Riots (nytimes.com)
Great post Peter! And yes, love the humour & satire!!
Politicians/police blaming social media/BlackBerry/RIM/BBM for the riots? This positioning is similar to blaming the weapon (gun, knife, baseball bat) for killing the victim instead of accusing the perp?
SM/BlackBerry/BBM are tools and some inanimate objects. How can these tools cause a riot without a real person behind it? As you stated, politicians/police need to address the root causes of the riots and stop diverting the issue to social media.
Root causes you ask? What about unemployment, low wages, high taxes, uncontrolled debt loads, excessive government spending, racism, unaccountable police for killing an unarmed man, etc? These socio-geo-political and economic causes are more likely to be the cause of the riots and not a tool like the Blackberry or a web service like Twitter!
Thanks again for the great blog and keep them coming!
Hi Edward,
That’s probably the most impassioned response I’ve ever had to a blog post, instant goose bumps and probably because I agree 100%!
How can you blame social media, it’s both sad and silly in equal amounts.
It seems to me that the bankers were given, and are still being given, bonuses for the looting they did! I’m not justifying what happened AT ALL, but how many lives and businesses did the bankers and politicians ruin?
Great comment, more power to you!! All the very best, Peter
Dissatisfaction is what causes riots and smart phones along with social networks are just a newer means for expressing it. There was an old teaching I recall from back in the day that states when the people in any given area reach close to 100% dissatisfaction there will be a 100% change in that given area.
Hi and thanks for stopping by and sharing your thoughts!
I agree 100% and the fact that the ‘authorities’ just blamed social media is a joke!
The excesses of recent years, particularly by big business, banks and politicians have not gone unnoticed by the general public and we’ve got a generation without much hope.
The last time the UK economy was like this was in 1979 and it was around that time that Anarchy in the UK was in the charts, that was 30 years ago, I wonder what will happen next??
That’s for your time, all the very best, Peter
So, if despite the new ad campaign, Gordon’s Gin sales now drop as people fear a good ole G n T could throw the country into disarray again, will you be responsible?!
I wrote “Why Our Society will win eventually”
I must now master photos, images and humour as you have. Kudos for another great piece!
Hi Lindsay,
Great comments and it looks as thought you got the humour sorted already!
I read your blog post and it’s excellent and people have to win eventually BUT it’s not going to be easy, we’ve had years of excess and people have been lulled into a false sense of security with credit. Now the credit’s gone & we’re getting a taste of reality people are realizing that their past apathy about was going on within our society has cause some massive issues.
We’re in a difficult place right now, not just the UK but the world and I’m just hoping my kids can have a decent future.
We live in hope, all the very best and great to hear from you again, Peter (great blogging!)
Pingback: Did you love the social media summer? Social media satire 24.The MarketingM8 blog…
Pingback: Social media, Boris Johnson as London's mayor and the 'social media' riots.