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Facebook starts Riots

When studying network effects, I immediately began to think of social media such as Facebook and Twitter and how strong those network effects are. In this article about the London riots in August, it paralleled the importance of social media in spreading uprisings around the world. This article drew a parallel between the riots-both started with deaths of young men that led to creation of Facebook pages that fueled these protests. This article shows that “social media tools may not be a trigger for such events, but they can clearly act as an ‘accelerant’” which we see in such circumstances. As we know, Facebook and Twitter are not the only outlets that can cause situations like this but they are unique because they are always on and always accessible. The pages that fueled these riots are constantly able to grow because Facebook and Twitter never shuts off unlike the news on television. Also, they grow so quickly because people are able to connect with others who are feeling the same way as them without actually having to know them.

 

This article links to our study of network effects well. In this situation, the movement, and therefore everyone involved in the movement, benefits more as more people join the movement. If you take the movement of these London riots, the cause gets increasingly stronger as more people join the Facebook pages dedicated to these movements until there is a point where so many people are involved that they are able to reach their goal. This is a perfect example of the kinds of network effects that we now encounter with the rise of social media. People are greatly influenced by how many people are involved in a cause and now with social media, it is extremely to get such information. How many “likes” a Facebook page gets can influence people as to whether they should get involved or not. In the case of the London riots, the Facebook page urged the members to upload pictures and video of the riots and people were tweeting about what they were doing around London. BlackBerry Messenger also played a role because people were able to spread mass texts for free, urging all of their friends to get involved in such riots and contribute to what was going on around London.

 

http://gigaom.com/2011/08/08/network-effects-social-medias-role-in-the-london-riots/.

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