The Guardian of the UK: Twitter's advantages outweigh the disadvantages in the riots

The London riot scene Sina Science and technology news Beijing time August 26 evening, a British Guardian survey found that in the recent riots in Britain, Twitter was mainly used to deal with riots, rather than play a role in incitement. A massive riot erupted in northern London August 6. Many media reports say rioters organize and coordinate riots through services such as Twitter, Facebook and rim BlackBerry Messenger.　　To this end, the British government this week proposed a plan that, in the event of social unrest, the British government will prevent people to use Facebook and Twitter and other social networking sites, or to close these sites. But a recent survey by the Guardian revealed that Twitter was mainly used to deal with riots.　　The Guardian's analysis of 250多万条 's Twitter message found 206,000 news that citizens were calling for cleanup of debris on the streets after the riots, accounting for 8% of the total messages sent. In Thursday, Tressa Mein, Home Secretary, Theresa will meet with Facebook, Twitter and rim representatives to discuss how its services are not being exploited by rioters and how they should be held accountable for possible future disturbances.　　The three companies have said they will not make concessions.　　As the debate over censorship rages, sources inside the government say Mayne is not going to discuss shutting down social networks, but wants to explore what measures these companies can take to help control future disturbances, including how the judiciary can use the sites more effectively. Britain's prime minister, David Cameron, has said he will consider more restrictive measures. The day after the unrest subsided, Mr Cameron told the British Parliament that they would be barred from using websites such as Twitter and Facebook if they were convicted of conspiracy to commit crimes. Mr Cameron said the government would take "all measures" to restore order and was assessing the legitimacy of banning rioters from using social networks.　　He also disclosed that he had asked the police if they needed more power.　　London Police later said it was considering shutting down social networks in the event of riots in London, but given the legal factors that have not yet been decided. The Guardian database contains all the riot-related Twitter messages from the August 6 midnight to August 17 8 o'clock in the evening. More analysis will be carried out in the coming weeks to investigate the unrest. (Li Mingyan Fly)