Twitter appeared to respond to increased pressure to deal with abusive and offensive material on Monday by claiming it is exploring ways to make it easier to report abuse.

In a blog post entitled 'we hear you', Twitter's senior director of trust and safety Del Harvey, wrote that the majority of the 400m tweets sent every day are positive, and "embedded into the fabric of traditional and digital media".

"The vast majority of these use cases are positive," she wrote. "That said, we are not blind to the reality that there will always be people using Twitter in ways that are abusive and may harm others."

"We are constantly talking with our users, advocacy groups, and government officials to see how we can improve Twitter, and will continue to do so. Such feedback has always played an important role in the development of our service. We hope the public understands the balances we're trying to strike as we continue to work to make our systems and processes better."

Earlier this month, Twitter updated its iPhone app and mobile version to allow reporting of individual tweets. The same functionality will be expanded to the Android and desktop versions soon.

Senior lawyer Charlotte Harris and Andy Trotter, spokesman for the Association of Chief Police Officers, were among those on Monday calling for Twitter to improve reporting tools to deal with abuse, as well as doing more to deter and block unacceptable behaviour.

The latest wave of complaints against Twitter has been triggered by the treatment of feminist activist Caroline Criado-Perez who successfully campaigned for a British woman to replace Charles Darwin on the new £10 note.

When the Bank of England announced that Jane Austen would be featured on the new note, Criado-Perez began to receive threats of rape and murder on Twitter but went public to raise awareness of the levels of misogyny online.

Speaking to Channel 4 News tonight, New Statesman feminist blogger Laurie Penny said that for many women "expressing an opinion online is the new miniskirt" - that if women dared to express an opinion then they deserved what they got.