Wired’s Epicenter has an analysis today of: Why Has BlackBerry Been Blamed for the London Riots? The piece describes how mobs have used texting to communicate and what BlackBerry has attempted to do about it. The final paragraph is on a happier note:

Just as social media is used to organise people to negative effect, it’s also used by the anti-riot movement — with BBM, Twitter and Facebook being used to warn and inform Londoners of places to avoid and what to do if their neighbourhood is affected. Hashtags such as #riotcleanup and #riotwombles have emerged on Twitter, and it won’t be long before we’ll see anti-riot messages emerge on BBM from people — young and old — who disagree with the violence and looting and want to reclaim their streets.