This document discusses how social media is being used in Mexico to report on citizen security and the changing security environment. It analyzes several case studies including the Movimiento por la Paz social movement and Blog del Narco website. It finds that social media provides a new public sphere for reporting that meets needs in the post-2006 environment. However, challenges remain around connectivity and coordinating information exchange in decentralized networks. Overall, social media represents a potential democratizing force but more research is needed on how to connect excluded groups and better coordinate information sharing.

1. Social Media and
Citizen Security in
Mexico
Kristen Blandford, Rosemary D'Amour,
Kathleen Leasor, Allison Terry,
Isadora Vigier de Latour
SoMe enVivo @some_envivo

2. A changing security environment...
• How are social media platforms being used
in response to security needs?
• Hypothesis: Civil society, media workers,
and government are adapting security
reporting to social media platforms because
they meet needs of post-2006 security
environment

3. Methodology
• Public Sphere and Knowledge Dynamics
Model
• Network Analysis
• Twitter Analytics
• Content Analysis
• Case Studies

4. Public Sphere
• Political/Rhetorical Speech
• Political Outcomes/Raised Awareness
• New?

5. Knowledge Dynamics
• Knowledge
Conversion
• Knowledge
Transfer
• Information vs
Knowledge
Image from Naoka 1994

6. Methodological Tools
• Structure and Content
• Networks: Nodes, Information Flows, Top
Users
• Analytics: Tweet Volume, Tweets:Retweets
• Content: Coding for Keywords, Top Words

7. Movimiento por la Paz
• Statistics
• MPJD - most popular
social movement, why?
• Characteristics of a
leader, Javier Sicilia
• Moving north - peace
caravan
MarchaZocaloDF8mayo
Pictures obtained from image gallery of
Movimiento por la Paz website:
http://mxlapazmx.views.fm/Galeria

8. MPJD in the Public Sphere
Findings
• Rhetorical Public Sphere
• Online and offline action by MPJD: increase
attention and awareness
• Twitter more popular. Use of #hastlamadre
• 2-way communication
• Affiliation with U.S NGO via Social Media
• Judgement formed to and from the
movement

9. Statistical Data
Twitter Handle Hashtags No. of No. of tweets Facebook
followers likes
@mxlapazmx #MPJD, 6147 5655 4964
#justiciaparanuevoleon
#enloszapatosdelotro
#dondeestan
#Sicilia
#CaravanaUSA
Twitter and Facebook Statistics for MPJD as of 04.26.2012
*Very rapid increase in no. of
followers for MPJD

10. Twitter Analytics Figure 1.
Image from The Archivist
@mxlapazmx

11. Blog del Narco
Twitter Handle Hashtags No. of Following Tweets vs.
followers Retweets
@infonarco #verfollow 104,869 0 Tweets: 40.26%
#mtyfollow
#reyonsafollow Retweets:59.74%
#elblogdelnarco
Figure 1
• Analysis: Not following anyone
so they can stay anonymous
• Re-tweets only from followers,
not the account

12. Blog del Narco
• Network Analysis- Events
Figure 3

13. Blog del Narco
o March 28, 2012: Z40 quarters 5 men as an assault
on el Chapo Guzman in Sinaloa
o April 18, 2012: This is when there was the largest
amount of activity on the @InfoNarco Twitter
account. On this day, Joaquin Guzman Loera, aka El
Chapo Guzman leader of los Zetas, claimed
responsibility for dismembering 14 Z40 members in
Nuevo Laredo.

14. Blog del Narco
Findings
• Credible, reliable, and alternative solution to
government and traditional media
• Mexicans use this blog as new public sphere to report
public safety concerns- two-way flow of information
o Keeping anonymous and timeliness=crucial
• Altering who gatekeeper of narco-related security
information is onto civil society

15. The New Journalism
• Changing media environment
o Adapting to immediacy of information flow
• Comparison between media
(@periodistasapie) and other users online
o NodeXL to compare information flow of hashtags,
individual users, and media on Twitter.

16. The New Journalism
Image: CSO @CIC within Image: Individual user,
#mtyfollow @erikam within
#mtyfollow

17. The New Journalism
Image: @periodistasapie
• Three-step process by
which users in the
network receive
information.
a. News organizations
disseminate
information
b. Conversation with
users and followers
c. Users spread to their
followers

18. The New Journalism
Image: First stage
of connectivity in
@periodistasapie
network.

19. The New Journalism
Image: Second stage in
@periodistasapie.

20. The New Journalism
Image: Third stage in
@periodistasapie.

21. The New Journalism
• News organizations carrying an established
offline identity into the online realm.
o Connectivity trumps individual users.
• Role of media to report issues of public
importance--but Mexico's security context
has changed that.
o Anonymity in or omission of reporting.

22. The New Journalism
@periodistasapie top users, most of whom are individual users or organizations
who are interested in the journalists’ network.

23. The New Journalism
@periodistasapie: Tweets vs. Retweets means within the network, the majority of content is not
original, but that it reaches far into the network.

24. The New Journalism
• #reynosafollow contains more original content.

25. The New Journalism
@periodistasapie tweets: Spikes in the graph indicate that more information or
users are following the source.

26. Media Findings
• Journalists are unable or unwilling to use offline identity
to their advantage in reporting on social media.
• Rather than reporting on violence, journalists and media
institutions are reporting on ways to enable them to
report on violence and citizen security.
• Social media provides organizational network power,
and can be an enabling tool to combat the decentralized
nature of the drug war.

27. Government and Social Media
Policy
• Phases
• December 2006-August 2011
• August 2011-present
• Leveraging social media networks as
security strategy - untapped
• Access to information and protecting
messengers
• Changes in dissemination, not conversation

28. @SSP_mx Network Sample (N=100)
@ssp_mx
following: 44
followers: 41,199
Created with NodeXL

29. @SSP_mx Information Flows
Created with NodeXL

30. Top Users
Image from the Archivist

31. Twitter Analytics

32. Twitter Volume Over Time
Image from the Archivist

33. Content @SSP_mx
TOTA
LAPRIL
FEBRUARY

34. Tweets:Retweets @SSP_mx
95% of
content is
unoriginal
Image from the Archivist

35. Original Content
• BuscandoaAlex
• USB-gate
• The odd complaint, denunciation, praise, or
opinion

36. Secretaría de Seguridad Pública
• Federal Police - security updates
• Low volume of tweets from SSP
• Decentralized network
• Limited control over information flows
• Contribute significantly to content

37. Outputs @SSP_mx
• Information dissemination
• Raise awareness
• Limited discourse
• Weak rhetorical public sphere
Image from NoticiasenLínea

38. Overall Findings
• Potential democratizing force in citizen
security context enables communication
between governors, media, civil society and
individuals.
• Changing "gatekeepers" of information.
• Two challenges to social media and citizen
security:
o Connectivity, virtual digital divide
o Decentralized security context

39. Implications for Further Research
• How to connect excluded populations?
Especially those in rural areas where the
majority of the drug violence is occurring.
• How can these three sectors coordinate the
exchange of information in social media
networks?

40. Thank you for your attention!
Questions?
Contact:
someenvivo.wordpress.com
some.envivo.mx@gmail.com
@some_envivo