Summary - Analysis of tweets made over riots in London 6- 8th August 2011

Title: Analysis of tweets made over riots in London 6- 8th August 2011
Department, Body or Committee: Brand Aura
Date published: 2011
URL: http://www.brand-aura.com/downloads/londonriots.pdf

Themes: Social Media.




Summary + Key quotes:

The report is a content analysis that sought to analyse a had full of tweets that contained the words 'riot' or  'broadcast'. The latter used as many members "...by the gangs to promote the spread of any organising that they undertook."

The report looked at the BBC to derive a summary of the riots:
"• Saturday 6th August
Riots begin at Tottenham resulting in buildings, buses and cars burnt
Looting takes place from Vision Express, Boots, Argos and JD Sports
• Sunday 7th August
18:28 BST Looting begins at High Street Enfield
22:30 BST Rioting at Oxford Circus
00:45 BST Rioting and burning at Foot Locker, Brixton
00:45 BST Looting at Chingford Mount, Waltham Forest
00:45 BST Looting at Tesco store in Ponders End, Islington
02:20 BST Looting at Walthamstow finally under control
02:38 BST Fires reported in Brixton, Enfield and Walthamstow
• Monday 8th August
17:19 BST Rioting begins in Hackney
18:42 BST Bus set on fire in Peckham
18:45 BST Cars set on fire in Lewisham
20:07 BST Rioting in West Midlands
20:58 BST Fires in Croydon
21:50 BST Fire reported in Clapham
23:05 BST Looting reported in Woolwich
23:27 BST Looting reported in Ealing
23:30 BST Fires reported in Nottingham
00:45 BST Police station in Birmingham on fire."

• "The initial analysis of tweets shows a general blas´e attitude on the Saturdayevening (between the hours of 11am to early morning), with most people worriedthat the Tottenham - Everton game in the English Premiership could be affectedby the disturbances in the Tottenham area."
• "During the morning of the Sunday, we see some interesting words coming upin context: Bush, Westfields and loot. This would indicate that the WestfieldShopping Centre in Shepherd’s Bush was targetted early on as a potential target.Indeed, the shopping centre did come under attack later that evening."
• "[The tweets can]...be seen that they are a mix of jokes, with warnings about an impending riot, to apparently serious comments about joining in the looting for particular shops."

Key tables: