FreshNetworks Blog

It may have been the weather in the end. I was always sceptical that when the Facebook beach party in Torbay was cancelled – would people turn up anyway?

It is in the nature of social networks that the traditional hierarchy of control becomes less pronounced. Even though one person created the Facebook group, could they really be said to be in control of the event? People forward the event to their friends and through the network effect different groups of people independently cocreate the event. Rather than one point on control there are many nodes. So the creator of the event cancelling it will not necessarily stop some of those who had said they were going turning up in any case.

In the end they didn’t. As the local Herald Express says:

Police, back-up staff and the media were the only presence on the beaches during the weekend instead of an anticipated 10,000 party goers.

Although, now there is a suggestion that the party may be this coming weekend instead. I suspect this might be a story that never ends.

If you’re interested, here’s a clip of me talking about this issue on Sky News last week:

Some more reading

• Facebook-advertised boozefest makes scared cops ban liquor
• Party’s Over: Beach Event Binned
• Facebook Users Ready for ‘Night of Mayhem’