Texting ‘Bout a Revolution – Crowdsourcing Unrest

“Don’t you know
They’re talkin’ about a revolution
It sounds like a whisper” – Tracy Chapman

Revolution these days sounds less like a whisper than the chime of a BlackBerry Message, or the chirp of a Tweet, or the ding of an incoming text. As with the Arab Spring, social messaging proved a potent force for fomenting unrest in Britain, with Mashable claiming that BlackBerry Messenger was the single most frequently utilized method for organizing rioters in London and elsewhere in England. British police were clearly outflanked initially by the size, strength, and organizational capability of the rioters, although order has largely and uneasily been restored.