Researchers who analysed millions of message posted by users, said that the social networking site helped to encourage clean-up operations across UK cities.
The study, published today, considered 2.4 million tweets sent during the unrest in August and said there was “no evidence” to back calls that Twitter should be closed for inciting unrest.
Leading the team of researchers was Professor Rob Procter from the University of Manchester, who said: “In August this year social unrest spilled over on to the streets of English cities and the summer riots were the largest public disorder events in recent history.
“Politicians and commentators were quick to claim that social media played an important role in inciting and organising riots, calling for sites such as Twitter to be closed should events of this nature happen again.
“But our study found no evidence of significance in the available data that would justify such a course of action in respect to Twitter.
“In contrast, we do find strong evidence that Twitter was a valuable tool for mobilising support for the post-riot clean-up and for organising specific clean-up activities.”
Rioting broke out in Tottenham, north London on August 6 – two days after police shot and killed 29-year-old Mark Duggan – and spread to other UK cities including Birmingham, Liverpool, Nottingham and Manchester.
The study, funded by the Joint Information Systems Committee, noted how quickly rumours ‘break’ on Twitter, while the mainstream media lag behind.
But highlighted that some of these rumours, such as the London Eye being set on fire or animals being released from London Zoo, turned out to be untrue.
