Crisis PR: In Vancouver, Social Media Was a Riot

by PR Coach on June 22, 2011

Iconic photo of couple kissing amid riot

Social media played a huge role in the post-Stanley Cup riot in Vancouver last week. It’s also being used by residents to defend and restore their beautiful city’s reputation. It makes a fascinating PR study of social media in a crisis.

The Vancouver Canucks had a storybook NHL season. Though they lost to the Boston Bruins, it was one of the best Stanley Cup series in years. That didn’t stop crowds of drunken young people intent on creating trouble after the seventh and deciding game.

As more than 100,000 fans gathered downtown, things turned ugly fast, escalating into a terrible riot seen on newscasts, in newspapers and on social media around the world.

After just three days, there were already 22,823 news stories on Google.

Like many recent large scale global political events and natural disasters, social media enabled live coverage of the riots. I’ve gathered a selection of these resources below. They tell a compelling news story both for residents and those far away.

Some of these stories and pictures will touch you deeply whether you’re a Vancouver resident or just wanting insight into this news story.  As in Egypt and Libya, there are tragic incidents balanced by heartwarming stories of humanity and community spirit.

Social Media During the Riot

Let’s look at how social media played in the lead up to and during the riot:

  • Texting, instant messaging  and Tweet Ups contributed to huge post-game crowds downtown
  • Social media fanned the flames of the riot through text, video and photo sharing; instant messaging; tweets; e-mails; and live posts by citizens and journalists
  • Vancouver police used live Tweets to encourage public to report crimes via Crime Stoppers and other resources
  • VPD police suggested text messages be used to report crime tips: ‘BCTIP’ to 274637
  • Mob mentality and the presence of media, thousands of cell phone cameras, video cams and other cameras seemed to encourage escalating violence
  • Bystanders were egging on drunken youths, encouraging damage, vandalism, and looting
  • Many of the mostly-young people committing crimes seemed to be further encouraged by the celebrity; most were not concerned or failed to recognize they were being captured on all kinds of cameras and social media.

It was difficult not to continue watching local media coverage well into the late night and early morning hours. Coverage was shocking yet compelling whether you followed it on TV, Twitter, Facebook, E-mail or by telephone with friends living in the area.

Post-Riot Social Media

After the riots, there was fascination mixed with shock and disbelief as media and social media coverage continued nonstop.

Social media channels were being used by all kinds of individuals and organizations:

  • City of Vancouver newsroom with news releases and instructions for volunteer cleanup
  • Vancouver Police Department newsroom with news releases and instructions for citizens to submit video and photos of vandalism and crime for police investigation
  • Mainstream media news coverage of the riot, the cleanup and of the embarrassment playing on national and global media
  • Extensive blogging and analysis by residents and bloggers near and far
  • Flickr features hundreds of dramatic photo uploads
  • Twitter coverage continues minute by minute and trends on several related topics
  • Numerous Facebook walls suggest visitors identify pictures and video of those committing crimes; a lynch mob mentality seems to prevail in many comments
  • Full page newspaper ads run in both daily newspapers by pop singer and Vancouver resident Michael Buble and The Bay department store, each thanking volunteers and encouraging pride in the city
  • YouTube video clips of the riot are receiving tens of thousands of views; several have more than 130,000 views already
  • Mainstream media and their social media sites continue coverage and post-riot analysis
  • Some of the blog posts are as passionate and well-written as any journalism anywhere
  • Police continue to use social media for investigation
  • Some riot participants have posted online apologies publicly or anonymously and others have begun turning themselves in to police
  • The Bay department store held a free morning pancake breakfast to thank cleanup volunteers who were invited through social media
  • The latest development has been a series of widely-circulated public apologies in both mainstream and social media. The efforts have drawn applause and criticism as well as the expected deluge of vigilante-type comments.

This is really just the tip of the iceberg in a dramatic story. It raises interesting theories and points of view about the impact and outcomes of news and events covered and influenced by social media.

The Vancouver Sun daily newspaper reported on some of the more dramatic outcomes of social media including:  a suburban doctor and his family forced to leave home and fearful of community backlash because of their son’s actions while their son faces losing scholarship and a position on the national water polo team; several employees being fired for Facebook postings; a University of BC donor threatening to withdraw donations unless a female student, photographed looting a tuxedo store, is expelled; a 20-year-old professional mountain biker losing sponsors; and several businesses received heavy criticism for the behavior of several of their employees identified as riot participants.

As the newspaper noted:

“Vigilante retribution delivered via social media and online “name and shame” sites is delivering what may well be life sentences to riot participants while the legal system is just beginning to work its way toward due process.”

The outcome of social media and its role in this riot could have far-reaching consequences:

Christopher Schneider, a UBC sociologist and expert in criminology and social media, said the massive online reaction to the Vancouver riots is unprecedented and potentially as groundbreaking as WikiLeaks.

“There will be a lot of fallout, and we will probably see a lot of case law coming out of this.”

It will also, perhaps, change the way citizens move in the virtual world, forever. “The mob mentality has moved into cyberspace for the first time.”

Vancouver police received more than 3500 e-mail tips from the public within three days:

  • 53 with videos attached
  • 676 with links to YouTube
  • 708 with images attached
  • 1011 with hyperlinks to other social media sites other than YouTube (mostly Facebook)
  • 344 emails contain only text
  • 280 Crime Stoppers tips received
  • 900 additional emails have been received by the VPD Public Affairs Section.

The riot and social media have spun off several new terms including “apoloblogs”, “tweet bleats” and other random apologies. Read Camille Cacnio’s blog apology and Tod Maffin’s criticism as well as Nathan Kotylak’s open letter of apology. Kotylak waived his young offender status (under age17) to make this statement through his lawyer. These are just a few apologies beginning to surface by guilty participants.

What’s It Mean for PR?

Other than living in Vancouver and watching the riot firsthand, why do I think this is important for PR? It’s a great case study in crisis public relations. The use of social media by numerous organizations is noteworthy. The scale of citizen journalism seems unprecedented.

The use of social media as a tool to identify and investigate criminal activity is significant as is the high level of citizen participation. Community relations was highly visible. Many businesses received supportive calls and communications through social media from the public. Affected businesses thanked residents for cleanup help.

The level of public vigilante behavior during the riot and online in social media presents crisis management challenges. While social media may have been part of the cause, its reach, speed and transparency also offered support and useful channels for communications during the riot and after.

The biggest PR hurdle remains: restoring Vancouver’s world-class reputation as one of the safest, friendliest, most beautiful cities in the world.

I’m willing to bet if you browse a few social media resources below, you won’t be able to stop reading and viewing. It’s a sad but fascinating study in psychology, sociology, social media and a community’s response to a crisis both in the short-term and long-term. The implications will keep pundits and researchers busy for years.

What are your thoughts about social media’s role in this riot? Are there other important PR lessons to be learned? It’s hard to be objective here in Vancouver but it’s easy to feel sorry and embarrassed by the outcomes.

UPDATE: Sept 18, 2011

In contrast to the London riots, Vancouver police have yet to lay charges from the June 2011 riots. Citizens are bewildered. VPD recently launched a new website asking for public help identifying suspects and the results have been positive as investigations continue.

We’ve got a wide selection of crisis communications and social media resources in our PR Library. It’s open 24 x 7 and you can also sign on to our blog or get our RSS Feed directly to your favorite reader.

Photo credit: YouTube

Selection of 2011 Vancouver Riot Resources Online

Local media coverage:

National &International media coverage:

Twitter:

  • #ThisismyVancouver
  • #canucksriot
  • #riot2011

Facebook:

Blogs:

Flickr Photos:

YouTube:

Other Online Resources

City of Vancouver news releases:

Vancouver Police Department news releases:

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Author: Jeff Domansky is Editor, The PR Coach

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Leave a Comment

{ 21 comments… read them below or add one }

PR Coach February 1, 2013 at 3:10 pm

Hi Anny, you’re right, social media definitely has good and bad sides. As with the Egyptian freedom movement, it can be a positive force for change but it can also impact personal freedom, privacy and foment crisis in extreme situations. Thanks so much for your comment.

Anny Zhang January 27, 2013 at 7:56 pm

the riot was a big news at that time, it was all over the news, i knew it right away because i was watching the game with my friends that day. i stiil cannot believe how can a lose of a game lead to such an awful event. however, as the matter of fact the reason why this event spreaded so wide in the world in such a short time, its all because of social networking. as we know social networking can help people learn news right after it happened. while it also have negative sides, for example in vancouver riots, those criminals used social networks to showoff their trophy, put them on facebook or twitter, and some kids after seeing them may learn to do them as they did.

i agree with PKav, social networking has good sides and also bad sides.
i also agree with V.J, social networking can bring criminals to justice.

PR Coach January 26, 2012 at 10:03 pm

Grace, you are right. It was a shock. Thanks for sharing your thoughts.

Grace Zhu January 26, 2012 at 9:06 pm

The event happened in Vancouver was a shock to me. The whole situation
was an awful event that so many people was overreated. I could not believe that such a peaceful city got crazy at that time. We all agreed that social media played a great role in the post Stanley Cup riot in Vancouver.
There were so many medias nowadays, like Facebook, Twitter and Youtube. You can’t image how fast the information spread out over the world. Maybe it would be more serious than it really are. That was how social networking affect people’s public persona.

PR Coach August 19, 2011 at 9:14 am

Eric, I agree with your thoughts. Like any tools it’a always how they’re used, for good or bad, that defines them. Thanks for commenting.

Eric U August 19, 2011 at 8:28 am

It is truly amazing the effect that social media has on society particularly with regards to event like this and the G20 anarchy in Toronto. It is because of this modern media that many of the anarchists and violent persons have been identified and brought to justice. I hope that people who become involved in these violent acts soon learn that they are quite likely to be caught and hopefully this deters the majority from taking part.

Hockey09 July 26, 2011 at 12:29 pm

I think people acted way out of control and agree with MC-student about people are going to learn their lesson people are always watching, and it is amazing how many people got caught and arrested for the riot.

MC-Student July 25, 2011 at 5:21 pm

Social media played a huge role in the post Stanley cup riot in Vancouver. Without it, many of the crimes that people committed that night would have went unsolved. Its amazing how many emails the police had received, to help identify those individuals who participated. It is quite a lesson for many people out there, cameras are everywhere and people are watching..

PR Coach July 20, 2011 at 10:34 am

Jen the speed and use of social media to ID and apprehend criminal behavior made it most interesting. Comment appreciated.

PR Coach July 20, 2011 at 10:31 am

Mary, I think without social media it would never have got the level of coverage in mainstream media. Thx for commenting.

PR Coach July 20, 2011 at 10:30 am

Paula, the negative side of social media, especially the vigilanteeism, was a first to my knowledge. Makes a fascinating case for sure. Thanks for your thoughts.

PKav July 20, 2011 at 9:53 am

We can all agree that what happened in Vancouver was awful and I believe that social media did in fact play a large role in the the size of the event. So many people have Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube accounts that there is a lot of information to choose from. While there are plenty of positive sides to using social media outlets, like the city-wide clean-up and helping to identify the offenders. There is also the negative side, don’t get me wrong those who participated in the vandalism and rioting should be held accountable but some people go too far with comments they leave on websites. We all have the right as Canadian citizens due process.

MaryC July 19, 2011 at 7:10 pm

The riot seemed like an attraction to the citizens of the world due to the various forms of social media utilized by Vancouver citizens. Perhaps the social media aspect made it even bigger than it would have been. I can only wonder what would have happened without all of the photographs, texting and videos.

Jen Holt July 19, 2011 at 7:00 pm

I would agree that social media had a huge impact on this event in so many ways. I think that the biggest way it made impact was by getting the word out when it started at the end of the game. If even a few people put something on Twitter or Facebook about it, the word would spread pretty quickly considering most people can have between 50-300 “friends”. It was also extremely helpful in identifying persons of interest and to spread the word of post-riot clean-up, however, the effect was not quite as wide-spread.

V.J July 18, 2011 at 8:39 am

The whole situation that happened in Vancouver was an unfortunate event. Social media was a big contributor in helping in the search of information of those who participated in the riot. I think that if you had information, it should have been sent to the police, let them deal with it . People started posting pictures and videos and information that they had. Not really think about the affect on the families of those individuals. Who may have been affected because they were guilty by association. Social media has come along way, and has helped many people to bring criminals to justice, if it is used properly.

PR Coach July 17, 2011 at 4:45 pm

Jenn, thanks for your comment. I found the social media aspects of this sad event fascinating. As a crisis manager, I think the City of Vancouver was naive and unprepared, hoping it would be mostly a love-in like the Olympics. Many lessons for all.

JennD July 17, 2011 at 3:22 pm

The riot was an awful event that should have not taken place. It astounds me that residents of Vancouver would make the choice to participate in the destruction of their own city, however, I am humbled by the people that did come out and help restore the city. Taking personal responsibility for your actions is a value most of us take to heart and the people who made the decision to come forward, have done so knowing the backlash and consequences that they will face and we should respect them; not send them hate mail, instead respect the strength it took to come forward and take responsibility.

andrew July 10, 2011 at 6:51 am

Jeez April, you must live in Saskatchewan or Iowa? If you were here or watched media coverage, it was serious and definitely not exaggerated.

PR Coach July 2, 2011 at 7:46 pm

Jeez April, you must live in Saskatchewan or Iowa? If you were here or watched media coverage, it was serious and definitely not exaggerated.

April July 2, 2011 at 5:17 pm

The whole thing was over exaggerated

Kristina June 29, 2011 at 10:56 am

that riot was awful.

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