Week 4 - Did social media cause the British Riots?

I am 100% sure that the British riots was fueled by social media but saying that it was the cause of it is a much harder thing to claim. Firstly, social media would not have been the sole starter of the riots, it would have been a contributing factor. Secondly, it is not the social media itself causing the riot. It is the people in control of the social media that are causing it. It is just like if a person shoots another person; who’s at fault the gun or the person shooting? Some may see it as the gun that killed the person but it was not the gun that aimed itself at the other person; it did not pull its own trigger. The shooter, the person holding the gun with the will power to kill, is at fault. Therefore, I conclude that social media did not cause the British riots but instead was just the weapon of choice by the 'shooters'. (Bradshaw, T. 2011)

Bibliography

Bradshaw, T. (2011). Social media's role in riots investigated. The Financial times (London ed.). 1 (2), p34.