Flash Mobs…so what?
Current Affairs 08/07/2003 |Maybe it’s just me, but this whole flash mob meme is already getting old. In my mind, it jumped the shark when Scoble publicly organized one on his weblog (no offense, Robert!).
When the flash mob thing first started getting talked about, it was cool precicely because it was a technology-enabled “underground” event. Seemingly at random, a large group of people would appear somewhere, mingle or do something silly for a few minutes, then disappear again. Fun, harmless, social hacking. Now, though, it seems like every time I turn around, another weblog is trying to jump on the flash mob bandwagon. It’s passe.
Pros and cons to our über-networked society, I guess. Cool ideas can form, break big, and then become old all in the space of a week or two.
Or maybe I’m just being overly cynical.
[See also: How to proceed from here | iSight issues | Pros and cons: don’t get to sl… | Getting personal | Wireless in the classroom ]
2 Responses to “Flash Mobs…so what?”
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schinji
dang
Cheryl
Bertamum
Michael Hanscom
August 7th, 2003 at 5:51 pm
I think you’re just not getting invited to the cool Flash Mobs. Either that, or you’re on the wrong side of the lake when the good ones happen.
August 7th, 2003 at 6:07 pm
I think when nobody knew what was going on it was cool, but now that it has happened a few times people are begining to understand it when it happens. It then loses its ??? spark? I want to say shock value but I think shock is too strong a word. Almost like streaking when it was the rage. At first it was new, cool and interesting but the newness quickly wore off then it just became silly. I see the same thing happening with the mob. But to each their own. Whatever floats your boat.