Frequently asked questions

About this archive

What is Social Media DNA?

Social Media DNA is an archive of 345 articles on how social media changed public safety, policing and criminal investigation, published between 2010 and 2019. It covers police use of Twitter and Facebook, citizen investigation, crime-reporting and safety apps, online risks such as trolling, and cases such as flight MH17. See the topics overview for all subjects.

Who wrote the articles?

The site is an initiative of Arnout de Vries, a scientist and consultant in social media and public safety at TNO, the Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research. Some articles are guest contributions or summaries of research by students and colleagues. More on the About page.

Is the site still updated?

No. The most recent article dates from November 2019. The site is kept online as an archive, so older articles describe the situation at the time they were written.

What is the book “Social media: het nieuwe DNA”?

A Dutch book by Arnout de Vries and police investigator Frank Smilda (Sdu, ISBN 9789035247024) about how social media changes criminal investigation, as DNA research once did. It describes how detectives and citizens can work together online. See the book page.

How can I find articles on a subject?

Use the search page, browse by topic or by year (for example 2014, the year with the most articles), or use the A–Z indexes Crime ABC and Media ABC.

Police and social media

How do police use social media in investigations?

The archive describes many examples: Groningen police used Twitter to exchange information with citizens about a series of arsons (Arson), Amsterdam homicide investigators used targeted Facebook advertising to find witnesses in 2016 (Police in Amsterdam use Facebook ads), and a police officer in Kampen used a Twitter poll to decide whether to fine cyclists in a pedestrian area (Twitter poll influences police plan). The Dallas Police Department built a broad social media strategy to strengthen community trust (Next Generation of Community Policing).

What is Burgernet (Citizen Net)?

Burgernet is a Dutch partnership between citizens, local authorities and police. After a report of, for example, a burglary or a missing child, the police control room sends participants in the area a text or voice message asking them to look out for a specific person or vehicle. See Burgernet.

What is predictive policing?

Predictive policing uses software and large amounts of data on past crimes to estimate where and when crime is most likely to happen. Amsterdam police tested the Crime Anticipation System (CAS) for this (How big data is reducing burglaries in Amsterdam). When the system also predicts which police intervention works best, this is called prescriptive policing (From predictive to prescriptive policing). Research by Martijn Wessels looked at how officers work with CAS in practice (Man and machine).

How do detectives cope with the amount of information on social media?

Detectives experience information overload. A thesis by Annelies Brands developed a prototype tool that visualises social media information for investigators (Social Media Quick Scan). TNO also worked on real-time intelligence for security organisations (RTI Lab Programme) and on QUIN, software that helps investigators find fugitives (How QUIN helps investigators).

How do police tackle crime on the Dark Web?

The Dark Web hides identities through Tor and largely anonymous payments such as Bitcoin, which limits traditional policing (Policing the Dark Web). In Operation Bayonet (2017) the FBI took down the AlphaBay market while the Dutch police secretly took over and ran Hansa Market before shutting it down (Effects of Operation Bayonet). See also Shedding Light on the Dark Web.

What was the MEDI@4SEC project?

An EU research project on the opportunities, challenges and ethics of social media for public security: “the good, the bad and the ugly” (The Emerging Role of Social Media in Enhancing Public Security). It produced a pattern language of social media in public security and organised a DIY Policing workshop in Berlin in January 2017.

Citizen investigation and DIY policing

What is DIY policing?

Do-it-yourself policing means citizens using the internet, smartphones and social media for activities that fall within police work: reporting crimes, investigating, identifying suspects and sometimes forming vigilante groups. See DIY Policing and the DIY topic.

How important are citizens in police investigations?

Increasingly important. Search engines, social media and tools once reserved for the police allow citizens to investigate much more themselves. Dutch police and TNO see this as a trend to use and steer (Citizens are increasingly important in police investigations, “I argue for better citizen investigation via Social Media”). Research into why citizens take part is summarised in Crossing lines together.

What is Bellingcat?

Bellingcat is a platform for open-source investigative journalism founded in 2014 by Eliot Higgins (Brown Moses). Within days of the MH17 crash, Higgins and volunteers geolocated photos and videos of a Buk missile launcher in eastern Ukraine. See Bellingcat and the Bellingcat interview.

What are the risks of online amateur detectives?

Mistakes and vigilantism. After the Boston Marathon bombing, Reddit users wrongly pointed at innocent people (The Skeleton Crew). The Eindhoven “head kickers” case in 2013 led to fierce debate about involving citizens (Headkickers of Eindhoven), and groups that expose suspected or convicted sex offenders raise questions about privacy and justice (UK Paedos Exposed, Interview with OPIT).

Which apps did the Dutch police and TNO develop for citizens?

Sarea, to coordinate citizen searches for missing persons, and Sherlock, which lets victims of crimes such as burglary or vandalism create their own investigation file, including a facial composite, and share it with the police (DIY Detective work with the Sherlock app, Citizens are increasingly important in police investigations).

Can neighbourhood WhatsApp groups improve safety?

The municipality of The Hague wanted to support neighbourhood WhatsApp groups to increase citizen participation and feelings of safety. A TU Delft thesis designed a support service for them (Watch it! Resident on the lookout).

Safety and crime-reporting apps

Which apps does the archive review?

The Apps & platforms topic contains 262 short reviews of apps and platforms, for example for crime reporting (CityCop), personal safety (Safelet, Panic Button), finding hit-and-run drivers (Stop hit and run drivers) and information for first responders (Cargo Decoder). The Media ABC lists platforms from A to Z.

Can crowdsourced crime reports be trusted?

Not automatically. The Uruguayan app CityCop collected over 20,000 anonymous reports within weeks, but the government called it untrustworthy because reports vary in quality and can be manipulated (App: CityCop).

Online risks

What is trolling?

Trolling is the targeting of defamatory and antagonistic messages at users of social media. In a broad sense it includes cyberbullying, cyberhate, cyberstalking, revenge porn, sextortion, naming and shaming, and flaming (Trolling, Freedom to troll?).

Do burglars use social media?

Experts warn that holiday posts, check-ins and geo-tagged photos can show that a home is empty. Dutch research by Linda Nagelhout, however, found that finding targets via social media was difficult and time-consuming, and found no scientific proof that burglars use it (Burglary).

Can witnesses be threatened via social media?

Yes. In Philadelphia an anonymous Instagram account exposed more than 30 witnesses of crimes before it was shut down, and a student was charged with intimidating a witness (Tippers, snitchers and eye witnesses).

Cases

What caused the crash of flight MH17?

According to the Dutch Safety Board, a 9N314M warhead launched by a Buk surface-to-air missile system from eastern Ukraine brought down MH17 on 17 July 2014, killing all 298 occupants (MH17 Crash investigation Dutch Safety Board). Citizen investigators at Bellingcat traced the missile launcher using open sources.

What role did social media play after the Boston Marathon bombing?

Twitter traffic exploded, fake accounts of one of the suspects appeared, and media made errors (Boston Bombings 2013). Amateur detectives on Reddit wrongly identified innocent people as suspects (The Skeleton Crew).

What happened in the Amanda Todd case?

Canadian teenager Amanda Todd took her own life in 2012 after posting a YouTube video about being blackmailed and bullied. In 2014 a man was arrested in the Netherlands in connection with the case; the hacker group Anonymous had earlier published a name online (Arrest in Amanda Todd case).