Social Media Playing a Prominent Role in the U.K. Riots

As with unrest in other parts of the world, social media is playing a role in the riots taking place in London and across other cities in the U.K.

Rioters posting pictures and tweets on Twitter, in some cases with looted goods, are being arrested.

And BlackBerry’s blog has been hacked after the company said it would help authorities in their investigations of the rioting. BlackBerry Messenger, the chat service for BlackBerry smartphones, is a popular way for teens to communicate (37 percent of teenagers in the U.K.