[Tezcatlipoca]

"Twitter study casts doubts on ministers' post-riots plan"

Originally Posted by The Guardian

Twitter study casts doubts on ministers' post-riots plan

Analysis of tweets during recent unrest appears to undermine the case for banning people from social networks

Analysis of more than 2.5m Twitter messages relating to the riots in England has cast doubt on the rationale behind government proposals to ban people from social networks or shut down their websites in times of civil unrest.

A preliminary study of a database of riot-related tweets, compiled by the Guardian, appears to show Twitter was mainly used to react to riots and looting.

Timing trends drawn from the data question the assumption that Twitter played a widespread role in inciting the violence in advance, an accusation also levelled at the rival social networks Facebook and BlackBerry Messenger.

The unique database contains tweets about the riots sent throughout the disorder, which began in Tottenham, north London, on 6 August. It also reveals how extensively Twitter was used to co-ordinate a movement by citizens to clean the streets after the disorder. More than 206,000 tweets – 8% of the total – related to attempts to clean up the debris left by four nights of rioting and looting.

(snip)

"Social networks find possible link between rioting and having a Tory government"

Originally Posted by NewsThump

Executives from the major social networks, who are attending a meeting to discuss how to avoid the violent disorder that occurred earlier this month, have insisted that the best way to avoid further disturbances is by not having a Tory government.

The rioting, which took place in a number of locations around England, was on a scale not seen since the 1980′s which according to historical records was before mobile phones and the Internet existed.

“We noticed a pattern forming where rioting and the type of criminal activity associated with feelings of anger and isolation generally tended to occur while the Conservatives were in power,” said a spokesperson for micro-blogging site, Twitter.

“We obviously don’t want to jump to a knee-jerk conclusion and definitively claim there is a causal link between the two, but there is clearly a causal link between the two.”

(snip)