In 2008, policing organisations started to experiment with the use of social media. While there has been growing academic research on social media in emergency and disaster response over the last few years (Bird, Ling and Haynes, 2012; Kavanaugh et al., 2012; Perlman, 2012), there is little research exploring the impact of social media on everyday policing activities. These include activities such as the policing of low-level crime and anti-social behaviour, which are high on the government and public agenda. As police are increasingly using social media to interact with the public and gather information, it is important to explore how these emerging technologies are influencing information practices, particularly information sharing and decision making which are essential aspects of police work (Bouwman and Wijngaert, 2009).