Vancouver riot: Is social media becoming the surveillance society?
The Vancouver riot aftermath gives us a sobering glimpse of the
future of the Internet, some commentators are noting. Has society created the
court of Facebook? First there was the phenomenon of riot tourism photos –
people taking pictures of themselves in front of burning cars. Bleacher Report
notes that technology has outpaced crowd violence researchers. Compared to the
pre-social media 1994 hockey mob dust-up, it was a tale of two riots. Twitter
gave the incident global legs, arguably stoking increased international
coverage.
But now social media has taken on a new surveillance role. A Facebook
photo page has given rise to what some are calling online vigilantism, leading
to complaints of harassment. Self-deputized citizens have created wanted
posters. No wonder the now-famous kissing couple is media shy! As for the role
of professional journalism, one commentator welcomed the riot for, if nothing
else, switching off the spin zone and getting reporters back on the news beat.
Simon Fraser University’s public affairs department
has provided a list of faculty and students available for comment on the
riot. The Victoria Times Colonist has posted a gallery of global front-page
coverage.
The Vancouver riot aftermath gives us a sobering glimpse of the
future of the Internet, some commentators are noting. Has society created the
court of Facebook? First there was the phenomenon of riot tourism photos –
people taking pictures of themselves in front of burning cars. Bleacher Report
notes that technology has outpaced crowd violence researchers. Compared to the
pre-social media 1994 hockey mob dust-up, it was a tale of two riots. Twitter
gave the incident global legs, arguably stoking increased international
coverage.
But now social media has taken on a new surveillance role. A Facebook
photo page has given rise to what some are calling online vigilantism, leading
to complaints of harassment. Self-deputized citizens have created wanted
posters. No wonder the now-famous kissing couple is media shy! As for the role
of professional journalism, one commentator welcomed the riot for, if nothing
else, switching off the spin zone and getting reporters back on the news beat.
Simon Fraser University’s public affairs department
has provided a list of faculty and students available for comment on the
riot. The Victoria Times Colonist has posted a gallery of global front-page
coverage.
Patricia W. Elliott is a magazine journalist and assistant professor at the School of Journalism, University of Regina. You can visit her at patriciaelliott.ca.