'Occupy' Movement Threat Extends Beyond Wall St. to Target Big Business, According to Social Media Data

PHILADELPHIA, Oct. 6, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- The ListenLogic Social Listening Intelligence Center (SLIC) today issued a threat advisory to large US corporations after identifying the heightened potential for violence and/or malicious cyber attacks.  Social media patterns similar to those witnessed prior to flash mobs and other violent forms of protest are occurring with increasing frequency.

Because of the evolving risks of this situation and the need to understand potential threats of the Occupy movement, ListenLogic has setup a publicly-available Occupy Threat Center that will provide current threat level assessments, infographics including a timeline of the movement sine its July 13th inception, geographic social media activity, and a current news feed.  This public resource will provide continuously updated information on this issue.

Occupy Threat Center: www.listenlogic.com/threatcenteroccupy

"Based on our tracking, the Occupy movement is now being actively influenced by the social media efforts of an increasingly diverse group of organizations.  Clearly, the activists know how to use social media to provoke action, but the actions they provoke cannot be controlled.  This is the greatest threat," explained Vincent Schiavone, ListenLogic co-founder & chairman.  "While ListenLogic operates a dedicated real-time SLIC for its clients, we also feel it necessary to provide certain information to the public and to all of corporate America due to the alarming social activity we are witnessing."

The SLIC analysis of over one million social media posts in the U.S. indicates significant increases in:

• Social media activity from Occupy supporters and activists promoting physical destruction and violent action
• Direct and specific threats from Occupy "hacktivist" groups against specific financial and law enforcement targets
• Funding and support from national labor unions including the AFL-CIO, SEIU, Transit Workers Union, United Auto Workers, and the United Federation of Teachers
• Support from community organizations, including MoveOn.org, ACORN, and Rebuild the Dream
• Social media posts, videos and images specifically targeting an expanding list of corporate entities and the wealthy, specifically 1) all financial institutions that issue mortgages, foreclosures, and student loans and 2) all corporate entities that received bailout money or government subsidies, pay high executive salaries or bonuses, or are perceived to be paying exceedingly low taxes.

Occupy began to "go viral" on social media following the arrest of over 700 people in New York this past Saturday.  Each day since, the volume of social comments has been steadily increasing.  "At this rate, we are confident in predicting that the Occupy movement will go global," adds Schiavone.

The physical size and amorphous composition of the Occupy movement continues to grow, as does the number of websites and facebook pages calling for local action.  Social media conversations surrounding the movement have now spread to over 400 cities and protests have been planned in over 100 U.S. cities.

Media Note: Social intelligence, privacy, and information security expert, Vincent Schiavone, is available to provide press interviews and ongoing analysis of the Occupy movement.  Media representatives should contact Matt Donaruma at [email protected].

About ListenLogic
ListenLogic is the leading social business intelligence company helping Global 1000 companies manage risk, engage with customers and drive innovation. Our Social Listening Intelligence Center (SLIC) provides enterprises with real-time risk, threat, crisis and influencer monitoring of critical issues that emerge from social media.  ListenLogic Social CRM and Structured Data Stream products intelligently classify the social media firehose for real-time customer engagement and marketing outreach. ListenLogic Social Analytics and Insight products deliver deep understanding of consumer attitudes and preferences to help drive product and marketing innovation.  For further information, visit www.listenlogic.com | http://www.listenlogic.com/blog, or @listenlogic on Twitter.

About Vincent Schiavone
Vincent Schiavone, ListenLogic co-founder and executive chairman, has been involved in social business intelligence, privacy, and information security since 1996.  Prior to ListenLogic, Vince was the Co-founder and Chairman of Turntide Inc., an anti-spam technology company, which was acquired by Symantec Corp., co-founder and Principal of InfoSec Labs, an information security company, which was acquired by SafeNet. Vince was also a founding board member of The International Association of Privacy Professionals.

SOURCE ListenLogic