While politicians and police believe Facebook, Twitter and Blackberry Messenger have triggered the fire of riot in London, thousands of these social network users have made a clean-up effort.

Canadian mobile maker Research In Motion has extended support to the London Metropolitan Police in its investigation to find out how Blackberry Messenger service has played a part in the riots.

“We feel for those impacted by the riots in London. We have engaged with the authorities to assist in any way we can,” the managing director for regional marketing at RIM, Patrick Spence said.

The clean-up initiative taken by Facebook and Twitter involves feeding information to volunteers on areas that needed help.

The “riot clean-up” operation was started shortly after midnight by Dan Thomson, who decided to use social media to help co-ordinate people who are looking for ways to clean-up after riot.

Thomson was mainly encouraging people to help local businesses. "It's local traders who need help. Councils have done a good job getting the streets clear and removing a lot of the debris," he said. "Local shops find that harder."

Councils in areas, including Croydon, Hackney and Enfield have already sent teams to begin clean up.

An account on Twitter called @riotcleanup attracted more than 18,000 followers in a few hours and started helping people to co-ordinate efforts.

The British Insurers estimated the total repairing cost to run into tens of millions of pounds.

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