The Stanley Cup finals have been the center of attention for weeks, yet on Wednesday evening following the Canucks’ loss in Game 7, the attention quickly shifted to Vancouverites as rioters took over the Downtown core. The Vancouver Police Department had been dreading the possibility of a riot, after experiencing one in 1994 following a loss during that year’s Stanley Cup finals. Like the riot in ‘94, there was chaos, violence and destruction. What undeniably separates the most recent riot from the one in ‘94 is the overwhelming presence of social media.
During the chaos
The many civilians taking photo and video footage during the riot is an excellent case of the “everyone is a reporter” mentality that social media has cultivated. Facebook and Twitter were being overrun with photo evidence of criminal activity at the same rate, or often quicker, than the police and traditional news sources were documenting them. Because of this, the world became aware of the riot much quicker than if they had relied on traditional media for information.
There’s been criticism that by remaining in the crowd and not dispersing at the request of the riot squad, these amateur news correspondents were only encouraging the mob. While this may be true on some level, it can be argued that the Vancouver PD now has a much richer collection of evidence to draw from when arresting rioters in the coming months.
During and following the riot, the Vancouver PD embraced social media, taking to their Twitter account (@VancouverPD) to update the public and to request photo and video evidence to be sent to them. As an efficient way of submitting videos, they are asking people to share video clips with the police via YouTube. If you have evidence to share with the police, please click here to learn how you can help.
Uniting the community
Within hours of the riot starting, a Facebook event called “Post Riot Clean Up: Let’s Help Vancouver” was created as a rallying point and information source for volunteers wanting to help the city clean up the mess. By mid-morning following the riot, an astounding 15,000 people had marked themselves as “attending”. Certainly a large number of these individuals kept their word, as the Downtown core is currently the most spotless it has been in ages!
Organizers of the Post Riot Clean Up also established the @VancouverClean Twitter account, which was used to inform citizens of latest developments and to encourage action. Overnight, the account had amassed nearly 3,500 followers.
Proud Vancouverites have also been taking to social media platforms to share inspiration and positivity in an effort to rebuild the community and show the world what Vancouver is really made of. For example, local photographer Andy Fang snapped photos during the clean up to recognize and celebrate the volunteers, whom he has dubbed “the REAL citizens of Vancouver”. His pictures have been featured as a photo gallery at The Province.
Vancouver resident Don Falconer (@TheFalconer) has been instrumental in bringing back hope and positivity to fellow Vancouverites. He created the hashtag #ThisIsMyVancouver in the hopes of turning around the negativity and remembering why Vancouver is such a fantastic place to live by encouraging Twitter users to include it in tweets with positive messages and photos. To his amazement, his hashtag gathered momentum, eventually becoming a trending topic in Vancouver. Everyone from CBC News to Tourism Vancouver to Vancouver Is Awesome have adopted this hashtag in an effort to help rebuild the city’s image. Falconer credits @VancouverClean with helping popularize the hashtag.
The tweet that started it all:
The aftermath – cracking down on offenders
Social media is being used in a big way in cracking down on rioters who are guilty of vandalism, violence and robbery, among many other possible charges. Numerous rioter identification sites and groups have been set up by the public. For example, identifyrioters.com has a “connect to Facebook” functionality that allows users to tag lawbreakers in incriminating photos. Once a rioter has been positively identified by multiple users, the photos and evidence is sent to the Vancouver PD.
Already, riot participants are feeling the consequences: as Global BC reports, a 21-year old Vancouver man was fired from his job, following riot comments he made on Facebook. Surely many more jobs will be at stake in the coming weeks. There have also been reports of perpetrators turning themselves in to police after having friends and family members see their photos online.
It’ll be interesting to see how social media continues to play a role in the whole process as businesses work to repair damaged storefronts and Vancouverites set out to repair damaged reputations.
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