Blue-chip Brisbane suburbs living in fear over social media posts

Residents in some of Brisbane’s most affluent suburbs are living in fear, driven by what they’re reading on local Facebook groups, researchers say.

Community social media pages reporting on minor crimes in ‘rich’ suburbs are making residents feel less safe, even when statistics show actual crime is low, new research has found.

Some of the most active Facebook pages are in blue chip Brisbane suburbs like New Farm, Teneriffe, Camp Hill, Highgate Hill and Wavell Heights along with the popular ‘4007/ 4010 / 4011 Community Noticeboard’ for residents of Hamilton, Ascot, Clayfield, Hendra and Albion.

University of Queensland’s School of Social Science surveyed a cross-section of Brisbane residents about their perceptions of crime in their suburb and compared it with crime data.

Researcher Renee Zahnow said residents tended to believe posts on their community Facebook page that suggested their area was “criminogenic” or unsafe.

“But it’s often not borne out by the facts,” Dr Zahnow said.

“The chatter on these pages can create an impression of criminal or deviant behaviours that really are reports of minor incidents.”

Residents in some of Brisbane’s most affluent suburbs fear the local crime rate is greater than it actually is, researchers say.

Dr Zahnow said the type of behaviours commonly mentioned are people loitering, littering, tipping over rubbish bins and not picking up dog waste.

“More and more, social norms and the definitions of crime or disorder are starting to be constructed online,” she said.

“And very safe places end up being unjustly stigmatised.”

Dr Zahnow said other common community posts were calls to watch out for a particular group of people.

“It can be passively racist, insinuating certain people are linked to crime when all they might be doing is walking down a street,” she said.

“The same thing happens with posts about young people, or someone wearing a cap or hoodie.

“It means we become more and more suspicious and intolerant of particular groups in society, and this can affect people’s real-life interactions with them.”

Dr Renee Zahnow of the University of Queensland

Dr Zahnow said the perception of a suburb’s “safeness” could impact how often people used public spaces.

“We’ve found particularly some older people who already have a heightened sense of crime despite statistically being low risk, are not going out and using public spaces,” she said.

“This has a huge impact and can lead to higher levels of loneliness, mental illness and issues with their physical health.”

Dr Zahnow is now looking to expand her research, after receiving a UQ Foundation Research Excellence Award, which recognises excellence and the promise of future success in research for UQ’s early to mid-career researchers.

“The next stage of this project is to take data on crime discourse from the community Facebook page for every suburb across Queensland over one week,” she said.

“I’m interested to see if people posting about these incidents on Facebook are also reporting them and taking action offline.

“If they’re intervening offline that’s probably good for crime prevention and community cohesion, but if they’re just venting online and creating a sense of panic then there’s no benefit for the community.”

Dr Zahnow said public discourse on social media could influence how people thought and behaved.

“This does not mean that social media is not useful. It is great to spread awareness and communicate through social media.

“However responsible posting is also important.”