The age of social media

Some days it really hits home how far the world has come in the digital age. For a long time now I have been working on a piece of writing concerning the rise of social media and the impact this has had on the arts and on social interaction in general. The main reason this hasn't come into fruition yet is time constraints, it is a huge subject which needs much research, and juggling this with paying work and other commitments means I haven't had the time to devote to it that I would like. However, I cannot let today pass without comment.

Today I have been humbled by Twitter and the kindness and generosity towards others shown by it's users.  Like many others I spent a sleepless night watching the 24 hour news channels and trying to keep up with the #londonriots news feed. Watching parts of the city you grew up in burn to the ground is not comfortable viewing. Particularly, the images of the fires in Croydon and Ealing were haunting. The Twitter feed was crazy, there were so many updates it was impossible to keep up with. The news reports were blaming Twitter for being the tool used to coordinate the riots, but in reality it was full of people posting pictures and reports of what they could see, warnings of where gangs were gathering and, overwhelmingly, people reaching out to loved ones in affected areas to make sure they were unharmed. This week, social media has taken over from regular news reporting, the video cameras of the bigger companies could not make it into the crowds without getting their equipment damages, or assaulted themselves, so amateur videos, photographs and reports took over.  Many news stations had to use these as all they had otherwise were ariel shots of the destruction.

Then, today, the power of social media really comes into it's own, organising people to clean the streets and donations for people who have lost their homes and possessions, all of which has been organised via Twitter or Facebook. It is a simple display of people utilising social media to help others, and it's beautiful. Please, if you can, help out #riotcleanup

Jen M