Flash networks are a force multiplier.

Flash networks will be exploited by all groups.  The winners will reshape government and community, becoming wealthy and numerous.

Flash mobs are the most visible but they are the losers.
Flash networks are tracking down faces in those flash mobs as you read this.
The 2012 Presidential election and the fall of Bashir Assad will be networked.
Updates will be measured in seconds, not days.
Legislatures that respond in weeks will have to be reinvented.
Flash networks are a force multiplier.

Added:  "Everyone watching these horrific actions will be stuck by how they were organized via social media,” [Prime Minister David] Cameron said. “Free flow of information can be used for good. But it can also be used for ill.”

Added from the Wall Street Journal re English riots: "Technology has empowered all sides in this skirmish: the rioters, the vigilantes, the government and even the ordinary citizens eager to help".

Added from Good Technology:  "On Monday, after the riots had spread from London to his hometown of Bristol, Piers started the Twitter feed @BristolRiots and took to the streets on his bicycle (a fixed-gear, naturally). His mission was simple: He and his friends would ride around town and tweet quick bursts of accurate information about the riots. Within 24 hours of his first tweet, he'd accumulated more than 3,000 followers and was helping police, firefighters, and other Bristol residents restore calm to the community".