Social network

Londoners are taking to the social networks to mobilise a clean-up operation after the third night of rioting and looting.

"Artist, writer, photographer and explorer" Dan Thompsonstarted the Twitter hashtag #riotcleanup late last night after watching news reports from his home on the Sussex coast. He told Wired.co.uk that he has been up all night co-ordinating clear-up operations, letting people know where to head if they want to help; and also relaying requests from local business owners who need support clearing debris.

Thompson added that the first person to volunteer was musician Kate Nash and the overall response has been "phenomenal". He said: "Teams of volunteers have been out since the early hours and we are already getting responses back saying that areas are clear."

The creation of the #riotcleanup hashtag, along with others including#riotwombles, # liverpoolcleanup and #solidarity, was followed by the launch of the Twitter account @Riotcleanup. Instigated by Sam Duckworth, the founder of the Facebook group Get Cape, it now has 28,378 followers.

Over on Facebook, a page has been created called "Post riot clean-up: let's help London" where, much like on Twitter, people armed with brushes and bin bags, are co-ordinating meet-ups. And there are also pages calling for support for the Police and pages co-ordinating clean-ups in specific areas.

People, including actor and comedian Simon Pegg, have also been referencing the Riot Cleanup website, which was immediately inundated and suspended by its hosting company, 34SP.com. The hosting company has confirmed that it has now found "a more powerful hosting solution" and the website is back online.

But the social networks are also being used to vent anger with two sites launched already to name and shame the looters. Using the vast amount of video footage and photographs that people have captured whilst out on the streets, or simply trying to get home -- members of the public are being asked to identify looters. Metropolitan Police officers are now trawling social networks for photographs of looters or for looters boasting about their hauls, but they are also urging members of the public to send images and footage in. They are posting them online to their Flickr account.

For those who want to get involved in the clean-up, the social networks are buzzing with information and messages of good will; but should the very same networks be used to track down looters and to what end?