How social media is fueling the rise of Chicago's large-scale teen takeovers

CHICAGO - We don’t always know when or where a teen takeover will take place, but one thing we do know is they’re not small.

In a FOX 32 special report, Anita Padilla looks at how this social phenomenon often becomes a large scale event.

Whether it’s 31st Street Beach, Michigan Avenue or a festival in the suburbs, the location of the next Chicago area teen takeover can be a surprise.

The question is how do so many teens - all of whom don’t know each other -- wind up going to the same place at the same time?

"Most teenagers at this point use social media. Primarily they are using things like TikTok, Snapchat, Instagram," said Carly Kocurek, associate dean at Illinois Institute of Technology. "They’re also likely using things like WhatsApp or even just general phone texting."

While a post about a teen takeover is shared with the original poster’s followers and those followers’ followers, Kocurek - who researches new media technologies - says one social media site has a special function to help spread the word even more.

"TikTok has a feature the FYP, or the For You Page, where the algorithm shows you things you might like," Kocurek said.

"If someone is engaging with certain type of posts, they’ll see more of that kind of thing. So if a teenager is on TikTok and their engaging with lots of things about meet-ups in Chicago, they’ll see more things about meet-ups in Chicago."

Kocurek adds if lots of people are liking and commenting on a post, the more it’s going to be re-shared and show up in people’s feeds.

That’s without taking into account any teen influencers who might share the original message as well.

"This is mob action. This is what this is. They don’t get it because they think it's just a bunch of kids having fun, putting it on social media and getting those likes, getting those follows," said Dr. Steve Webb, a school superintendent and police officer.

"It's more than just a flash mob. This is an organized effort. They create flyers. They send flyers on their social media. So if you have an influencer who has 900 followers, and those 900 followers share it on their pages, now you have 900, a thousand, 10,000," said Rich Wistocki, a retired cyber crime police detective.  

That’s why Wistocki says law enforcement agencies need to do a better job of getting information about these events off social media. A task that’s easier said than done depending on what sites the teens are talking on.

"You have all these people using these platforms knowing that the company will not share that information with law enforcement," Wistocki said.

While some sites do work with police when contacted, Wistocki says some chat rooms do not.

"They won't respond to search warrants and subpoenas. It's all encrypted. They claim not even the people of their company can see the messages," Wistocki said.

No matter where teens are talking, what's the takeaway from a takeover?

"I think it's power and influence. I think you see a lot of them thinking from the riots, how much power they had and police just sat by and watched," Wistocki said.

Kocurek sees it a little differently.

"I personally would not be super concerned," Kocurek said. "I think the percent of people behaving badly even in these large groups tends to be quite low. You hear 400 people were there, four were arrested. So that’s one percent. So most of the young people participating aren’t a problem," she said.

For the most part, Kocurek says teens are trying to socialize and meet kids from other parts of the city.

"And if they’re doing it in a way that’s not helpful or not what we need as a city, then we should make sure there’s places for them to do that," Kocurek said.

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"I do hope we can use this as a moment to make sure we’re providing outlets for teenagers. That we’re providing places they want to be. Activities they want to participate in. Places that are welcoming to them," she added.

Kocurek says if the teens were gathering in protest, we would know.

"I think we actually have a politically astute generation of teens and twentysomethings. I think if they were trying to say something specific we would know because there would be signs, and they would be very clear about it," Kocurek explained.

Another question we asked is should the social media sites be monitoring for when a teen takeover will happen next?

Kocurek says it likely won't come to the attention of these platforms because there are other posts being pushed out to millions of people, compared to a thousand or less.