Social media as a force for good and bad among youth
Youth workers on cither side of the peace lines have also recognised the benefits of using social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram and Twitter as tools to enhance community cohesion and to counter mainstream media who often only report the “bad” news from the area. Since January and February 2019, after up to 40 “arranged fight” incidents, youth workers have been out on the ground at night, on regular shift patterns, enabling them to respond quickly to police and residents’ concerns. When incidents do occur, they quickly collect evidence at the scene and upload it to WhatsApp to keep the community informed and to counter malicious rumours and distortion of the facts.
They also upload content containing positive news stories about individuals and events in each other’s territory and frequently “like” and “share” each other’s content. One group has appointed a full-time communications officer, to underline its commitment. It is difficult to assess the real impact of such a strategy in the short term. It certainly creates a “feel good” factor among youth workers and young people involved in youth clubs and demonstrates there is a positive community spirit that reaches across the divide. These stories seldom reach mainstream media. Additionally, there arc groups of young people living in these areas who are “hard to reach”, preferring life “on the street”, and who do not want to be part of any structured engagement with youth workers.
On the other hand, there is evidence that intensive work and reaching out can turn around some young people. Thomas Turley from Ardoyne was involved in “arranged fights” before mobile phones existed. He recalls how they were organised through word of mouth (in the Catholic Nationalist Republican community) among themselves, and with his peers in the Protestant Unionist Loyalist community, by literally shouting across the peace line. He was convicted of riotous behaviour in 2003. As part of his community service order, he worked with a youth group. Within five years, he went to university, gained a degree and became leader-in-charge at Ardoyne Youth Club. Today he works with kids involved in “arranged fights”. Tommy says fights are now much easier to organise through social media (Turley 2019).
Shane Whelehan, then a community worker with Ardoyne Youth Enterprise (www.ardoyne.org/, Catholic Nationalist Republican area) in North Belfast, says his organisation consciously uses social media as a force for good (Whelehan 2019). Whelehan says the relationship with their partner organisation on the PUL side is strong. They follow each other on Twitter, frequently talk and share each other’s initiatives. Social media platforms like WhatsApp enables community workers to quickly alert others to a potential fight on an interface (Whelehan 2019).
Community' worker Isaac Andrews (PUL) is based at Farset International on the Springfield Road in West Belfast.2 He also points to the beneficial side of social media in averting an escalation in community tension, noting he regularly uses social media for good. When he was managing a parade on the July 12,3 some noted that black smoke was rising. Someone began to post false information on social media that people were burning cars and that there were attacks on the parade. Others used social media to quickly debunk this rumour. Communin' workers like Andrews were able to defuse the tension quickly with the help of social media. (Andrews 2019).
Earlier in 2019, Andrews was on the ground with other youth workers at other times when rumours of violence spread on social media. These community workers used social media to combat the false allegations that were spread on social media. A young person report of a stabbing, with a photo that had been taken not in Northern Ireland, but in England. Community workers directly asked those posting it to delete it, in an effort to combat disinformation.
Youth workers, community organisations, the police, politicians and Belfast City Council, are engaged in a constant battle to win the hearts and minds of young people engaged in “arranged fights”. The consensus is that this phenomenon will not end anytime soon. From talking to these agencies, there is a clear sense that the fights do not intentionally have a sectarian, or political undertone. Occasionally, by accident or design, it can sometimes happen. This has ominous implications for the wider community at the interfaces. The smallest incident can suddenly explode into something much bigger and more serious. Social media platforms have a powerful role in this dynamic—as escalators of tension and as tools to diffuse it. It is imperative that the multi-agency approach is properly resourced and targeted, both in the short and long term on the ground and online and that this issue is treated with care, sensitivity and urgency.
