The role of social network in London riots

When discussing the role of social network in London riots, many people may firstly point out the negative effects. It is disturbing to find reports of the role of social media in orchestrating criminality have been accumulating – with particular insight being offered in Jonathan Akwue's note about Blackberry Messenger.

However, I personally think that social network is playing more positive role in the recovery of this riot. In the article "Social media can help riot-hit communities recover", we can find traffic to the local social network Harringay Online increased significantly on Sunday, along with related activity captured on HOL's Twitter stream.

"What is striking about HOL's role is that while media coverage was dominated by spectacle and emotion, the site was quietly fulfilling the kind of role the politicians call for: sharing information, challenging misinformation, urging calmness and offering reassurance."

Here are some examples:

"There are simmering tensions and we need to be especially careful not to jump to conclusions about who was behind last night's events. A sad, sad day for our neighbours."

"I've just deleted a post that was calling for the most severe retribution. I understand the sadness, but I don't want this site to be used for intemperate calls for reaction."

"Does anyone know what is being done for these poor people, or if a fund has been set up to help them?"

Moreover, a site named riot clean-up has been established. There are already more than 58,000 following its twitter and thousands of tweets are sent organising activity across London and bringing people together to clean-up.

Facebook also has actions. The biggest group so far is the Post riot clean-up: let’s help London, which already had around 5,000 members at 10 am and 7,000 by mid-day.

The conclusion is: social network is just a tool. It can be used for destroying, but it can be used for constructing as well. Here I wana say Chinese government REALLY SUCKS. When the high-speed rail tragedy happened, the announcement of the spokesperson, the attempt to hide the truth, and the action to remove tweets doubting the government make every Chinese angry. If you always ban our right to know the truth, how can you offer us to support what you have done?