The story about the @RiotCleanup Twitter account is one of the few shines of light coming out of the terrible riots in the United Kingdom.

I started tracking the account today.  It has increased from about 30,000 followers this morning to about 86,300 people following it as of late this afternoon.

The momentum picked up this morning after the media picked up the story. Brandwatch posted that the account had 29,000 mentions. Sine this morning, Topsy shows the mentions have almost tripled to 82,000

Has the effort been effective? People are coming out with their brooms. Clean up has been completed at a number of places prepared by the Riot Clean Up site with several more clean ups planned.

Services Angle

Is there a story here? I think so.  These people coming together are connecting to a movement largely managed by services that do very simple things. Yes, it’s a social story. But it is also one about how people connect and take action in a physical world that is detached but connected to an online medium where we spend most of our working time.