Yes the copycat thing is a problem. There was a point during the 2011 riots where it became clear to me that the news had suddenly stopped. It was around 10/11 pm and I was getting reports from colleagues all over London whose high roads were being smashed up - but the reporting suddenly stopped. They fixed on Clapham and stayed there after it calmed.
Even LBC, which was predominantly a London station at that time, was no longer taking calls from people who could tell you where to avoid going. I then realised that this was a policy in order to stop copycat rioting.
Obviously now social media is more in use, the copycats have greater access to information about where to go next. and they will use media where the messages disappear immediately in order to lead the group onto the next specific locality.
I nearly posted on a different thread about this, yours in fact @MistressoftheDarkSide - to say the level of orchestration here is extremely high. The organisers have been waiting to unleash this for some time. And much as the London riots were terrifying, this looks worse.
Twitter is riddled with people with pics and blue ticks encouraging it. Not people we know. People whose accounts have been up a few months. Likely not even real people. All posting in sympathy for the thugs.