This book investigates various public aspects of the management, use, and control of social media by police agencies in Canada. This book aims to illustrate the process by which new information technologynamely, social mediaand related changes in communication formats have affected the public face of policing and police work. Schneider argues that police use of social media has altered institutional public police practices in a manner that is consistent with the logic of social media platforms. Policing is changing to include new ways of conditioning the public, cultivating self-promotion, and expanding social control. While each case study presented here focuses on a different social media platform or format, his concern is less with the particular format per se, as these will undoubtedly change, and more with developing suitable analytical and methodological approaches to understanding contemporary policing practices on social media sites.

Christopher J. Schneider is associate professor of sociology at Brandon University.

Foreword by David L. Altheide
Introduction: Media Logic, Policing, and Social Media
Chapter 1: Media Formats and Police Social Control Practices
Chapter 2: Crime and Society 2.0: Police and Social Networking
Chapter 3: Facebook and the 2011 Vancouver Riot
Chapter 4: Police Presentational Strategies on Twitter
Chapter 5: Police Caught on Camera: Framing the Death of Sammy Yatim
Conclusion: Policing on Social Media