The activists who occupied the New School building at 65 Fifth Avenue early on Friday morning did not use Twitter to organize their action or to communicate with the world outside. No-one who self-identified as a participant in the occupation ever tweeted while it was going on, and the protesters seem not to have given much weight to Twitter as a medium through which they could communicate with the public. 

But news of the protest broke online quickly, and by the time the occupation ended much of the conversation surrounding it was taking place on Twitter. Hundreds of tweets about the occupation were posted that morning — by noon, a new one was going up every eighteen seconds. Many of these tweets were written by eyewitnesses, and taken in aggregate the occupation’s Twitter feed offers both a real-time narrative of the morning’s events and a demonstration of the multiple ways that Twitter is deployed when news breaks.

 

The Occupation On Twitter

 

The occupation began at about 5:30 in the morning, by most accounts. The first tweet that mentioned it was posted at 6:46 am — twenty-six minutes after the activist group Take Back NYU announced the action via email to its Facebook group.

The first request that observers bring cameras to the occupation site to document events as they unfolded came at 7:26. The first photo from the scene was posted exactly forty minutes later.

The first link to media coverage of the occupation by a third party came at 9:04 am, and the first tweet from a news outlet linking to its own reporting on the story came nine minutes later. (This blog first tweeted news of the occupation at 7:18 and first linked to our own liveblogging of the story at 7:45.)

The first photo of the occupation that offered a visual perspective not available from the street was posted at 10:05. That photo, taken from inside an adjoining building, depicted protesters on the roof of 65 Fifth Avenue. Later photographs showed police on the roof of 65 Fifth, and a 10:56 photo showed police attempting to enter the building through a rooftop doorway.

Gawker’s first tweet linking to its story on the protest came at 10:50, twenty-three minutes after someone else had tweeted about it. The New York Times‘ first tweet about its coverage came at 11:21, fifty-two minutes after one of its stories was first tweeted by a third party.

Although the protesters set up a blog early in the protest, Twitter didn’t discover that blog until 11:00 am.

Several tweeters reported shortly before eleven o’clock that the police were making arrests on the street, and the first photograph of a protester in handcuffs was posted at 11:12. The first tweet from a reporter confirming that arrests had been made came at 11:39.

A narrative of the occupation posted by the demonstrators says that the police were arresting students within the building by 11:30, while an official statement from the university administration says that the NYPD didn’t enter until after 11:45. Tweets from witnesses on the scene, several of which linked to photos, support the demonstrators’ account.

It was interested observers outside of the occupation who latched onto Twitter, using it to inform themselves and each other at a time when neither direct participants nor journalists were offering a complete picture of events. In the course of doing so, these observers created an ad hoc record of events as they unfolded — a record which may be of as much value in retrospect as it was in the moment.

 

Twitter Timeline Highlights

 

5:30 am — The occupation begins.

6:46 am: @hautenegro — “New School:Occupado!” First tweet on the occupation, and the only one from this tweeter.

6:53 am: @carrefour — “New School occupied again. Go to 6th ave and 12th street to support.” Second tweet on the occupation, and again the only tweet from its tweeter.

 

seven o’clock — Three tweets so far.

7:23 am: @studentactivism — “Message from Take Back NYU on Facebook says there’ll be a rally for the New School occupation at 9am, but doesn’t say where.”

7:26 am: @randomdeanna — “New School student takeover again. iWitness Video is requesting camera ppl to come to 65 Fifth Ave at 14th St. Please RT…” First heavily retweeted tweet on the occupation.

7:41 am: @studentactivism — First use of #NSIE, a reference to activist group New School In Exile, as a hashtag for tweets about the occupation.

 

eight o’clock — Fifteen tweets so far, twelve in the last hour.

8:09 am: @DanZacchei — “New School protests outside my apt looks like a murder scene.” First explicitly identified eyewitness report.

8:15 am @travismelvin — First photo of occupation. Depicts banner hanging from roof of 65 Fifth with police van in foreground.

8:26 am @communityspace — “The New School is reoccupied! Get to 5th Avenue and 13th Street ASAP. Rally at 9AM, but come now. The whole building IS OURS!”

8:33 am @takebacknyu — “The students are justified the New School is occupied! they’ve reclaimed their education & the whole fucking building Come out, rally @ 9am!”

 

nine o’clock — Twenty-five tweets so far, ten in the last hour.

9:04 am @studentactivism — Link to the New School Free Press liveblog. First link to a media outlet’s coverage of the occupation.

9:13 am @MyFoxNY — First tweet on the occupation from a news organization.

9:21 am @Brooklahn — First use of #newschool as a hashtag.

9:29 am @NYULocal — First tweet from a student newspaper.

9:46 am @vicnoho — First report of helicopters on the scene.

 

ten o’clock — Fifty-five tweets so far, thirty in the last hour.

10:o5 am @mpilatow — First link to a photo that shows something not visible from the street — protesters on the roof of 65 Fifth Avenue.

10:27 am @TopGossip — First link to Gawker’s story on the occupation.

10:29 am @nytriver — First link to New York Times coverage of the occupation.

10:47 am @kbzimm — First reference to police taking control of the roof of the occupied building, from an officeworker with a view of 65 Fifth. 

10:50 am @GawkerDotCom — Gawker becomes the sixth tweeter to link its own story on the occupation.

10:53 am @eileenisvegan — First reference to possible arrests: “there are cops running everywhere and it looks like theyre making arrests at 14th and 5th.”

10:56 am @jsturtevant642 — A tweeter reports that the police are trying to enter the building from the roof, links photo.

10:59 am @washnylond — A reference to police having “stormed the crowd” on the street.

 

eleven o’clock — 132 tweets so far, seventy-seven in the last hour.

11:00 am — @maryjaneweedman First report of police on horseback at the scene.

11:00 am — @atizine First link to occupiers’ blog, in the 134th tweet of the morning. Until this tweet, the perspective of the protesters has been almost entirely absent from Twitter coverage of the event.

11:02 am @nicolehe — First specific information regarding street closures in the area.

11:04 @mpilatow — Photo of police trying to break open rooftop door.

11:06 @studentactivism — Report on live television news story that says police are preparing to enter building from street.

11:09 am @TeriTynes — Second link to occupiers’ blog. First reference on Twitter to occupiers’ claim that police are using tear gas.

11:12 am @travis_thomas Photo of a protester in handcuffs. First confirmation that arrests have been made.

11:14 am @aimeenbarnes — Report that four people have been arrested on the scene. Announcement that a noon rally has been called.

11:16 @mike_j_edwards — “Cops moving in en masse.”

11:17 am @jsturtevant642 — Report, with photo, that the police have “a few doors open” on the roof of 65 Fifth Avenue.

11:17 am @travis_thomas — Photo of police in riot gear “moving into the building.”

11:20 am @mike_j_edwards — “Police wagon pulling up to 65 5th.”

11:21 am @nytimesupdates — First reference by an official New York Times tweet to the paper’s own coverage. This comes 52 minutes after the Times‘ coverage is first linked on Twitter, 112 minutes after a student newspaper first tweets the story, and 128 minutes after the first television news outlet does so.

11:32 am @700stories — “What the what? shit is going down at The New School… NOBODY TELL MY MOTHER.”

11:32 am @studentactivism — “‘Officers have entered the building and have started to bring [protesters] out.’ NY1 reporting on New School occupation.”

11:36 am @mike_j_edwards — “Couple more led out a sec ago.”

11:39 am @mike_j_edwards — “Wagon pulling away with people on board.”

11:39 am @lieblink — Overview of street closings in the vicinity.

11:39 am @SteveScottWCBS — First direct confirmation from a media tweeter that arrests have been made, 27 minutes after first photo of an arrestee posted to Twitter.

11:42 am @mike_j_edwards — “Several more led out to new wagon outside 65 5th.”

11:43 am @palafo — New York Times City Room editor Patrick LaForge announces that the Times is liveblogging the occupation.

11:49 am @mike_j_edwards — “Many more cops with helmets going in.”

11:50 am @palafo — “Police storm New School building occupied by students.”

11:50 am @studentactivism — “New School blogger: ‘Rally NOW at 6th Precinct! Let’s get them free! 233 w10th at Bleecker. NOW #NSIE Until every last one is out!'”

11:54 am @e3na — “What’s funny is that right next to this video on the NY1 website is an add for New School to get your Masters in ‘Organizational Change.'”

 

twelve o’clock — 294 tweets so far, 162 in the last hour.

12:01 pm @SteveScottWCBS — “NYPD says 19 students arrested at New School Univ protest in Greenwich Village. No reported injuries.” First tweeted confirmation from NYPD that the occupation is over.