Popular flash mob. Flash mob on the Internet: what is it and why is it needed?
Friends, have you ever taken part in flash mob- mass actions in which large groups of people gather in public places and carry out pre-planned actions, and then disperse?
From the outside flash mobs are very similar to mass attacks of madness, however, they perform more harmless functions - to diversify people’s lives, to feel free from existing stereotypes of behavior, to get emotional recharge, and just to have fun.
People are always looking for something to do when they are bored. Therefore, flash mobs became the first stage in the emergence of various movements, such as Ice bucket challenge, scotchers, plankers, smack cam, Owlers, hadoukeningers, batmaning, duckmanning and others.
Only one question arises: where does all this come into people’s heads? 🙂 Today we decided to prepare for you a selection that contains the best flash mobs and the most prominent representatives modern movements . Go!
Scotchers
As part of the “scotching” movement, people wrap themselves in tape, take pictures, post them online and compete to see who can make it funnier. 🙂 Just look!
Plankers
Plankers try to surprise the people around them with their ability to be in horizontal position V unexpected places. Looking at the plankers, you are once again convinced that people's imagination is limitless!
Our favorite)) 
Duckmanning
Hearing this scary word, You'll probably say Whatafuck? We will explain that people participating in dakmanning are, as it were, competing in the skill of creating optical illusions. People hide their own heads, and their friends play along with their heads to make a funny photo. Look what usually comes out of this!
Ice bucket challenge
Ice bucket challenge is a movement that had a charitable purpose— raising people's awareness about amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and helping people suffering from this disease.
During the movement it was necessary to pass the test with a bucket of ice water and challenge other people. This is the movement in short time flew around the world and affected many famous people, who also did not hesitate to douse themselves with ice water.
It must be said that some people even went overboard with this, resulting in funny videos. Take a look!
Smack Cam Movement
A very fun and at the same time cruel movement - Smack cam, in which you need to make fun of your friends and hit them on the cheek. To be honest, we think some people went overboard with the punches, to put it mildly.
Now let's move on to the largest and oldest of movements - flash mobs. Let's look at the five most striking ones, from the idea to the execution.
5th place - New York, 2010, dance flash mob to popular songs.
4th place - we will pay tribute to the premiere of the film Deadpool.
3rd place - station flash mob, a group of people froze at the same time and then began to move, it looks very interesting and spectacular.
2nd place— USA, Soccer game, one of the largest flash mobs.
1st place - well-known flash mob at a concert Black Eyed Peas to "I Gotta Feeling" in Chicago.
Of course, most of the movements do not cause any harm, but serve only as a way to break out of the usual way of life. However, as in all types of activities, the main thing is to adhere to the principle - “ Everything should be in moderation". Otherwise, for the sake of entertainment, we will soon end up dying and filming! Take care of yourself! Peace for everyone!
Flash mob (read as flash mob, from the English flash mob - flash - flash; moment, moment; mob - crowd, translated as “flash crowd” or “instant crowd”) is a pre-planned mass action in which large group people (mobbers) suddenly appear in public place, within a few minutes they perform pre-agreed actions of absurd content (scenario) and then at the same time quickly disperse in different directions, as if nothing had happened.
A flash mob is almost impossible without the Internet, because... It is through the Network that the preparation and coordination of actions takes place.
The first attempts to describe flash mob-like actions can be found in the books of science fiction writer Larry Niven, which were published back in the 60s of the last century. The idea of bringing people together, which the author wrote about, is very similar to a modern flash mob.
In October 2002, sociologist Howard Reingold’s book “The Smart Crowd: The Next Social Revolution” was published, in which the author wrote about the potential of a crowd capable of gathering in a couple of hours using modern digital technologies (e-mail, sms, etc.) . Many flashmobbers in the West consider him the “founding father” of the entire movement, but this is not entirely true. Firstly, Reingold wrote not about a flash mob, but about a smart mob - this is different concepts. Secondly, he did not set himself the goal of organizing any movement or community. This idea came to the creator of the website FlockSmart.com - a successful 28-year-old computer scientist from San Francisco, Rob Zazueta - after he read Reingold's book.
It is generally accepted that the first flashmobber action took place in June 2003 in New York, because the first attempt to create a flash mob failed, the police learned about the action scheduled for July 3, 2003. The organizers avoided this problem when holding the second flash mob, which took place on June 17, 2003. More than 100 people surrounded a huge Oriental rug in a Macy's store and began to assure the puzzled salespeople that they urgently needed a $10,000 “love rug” for their “community.” After this incident, “instant crowds” began appear in different parts of the world almost every day.
The first European flash mob was planned to be held in London, but its preparation dragged on for almost a month. Meanwhile, Rome organized and carried out its own action - it became the first in Europe. On July 24, about 200 people entered the bookstore and began asking salespeople for non-existent books for several minutes, then they applauded the store's patient employees and went off to “go about their business.”
The first Ukrainian flash mob took place on August 16, 2003. Kyiv mobbers planned to meet at the iron palm tree in the Globus on Maidan Nezalezhnosti, but information about the impending mob was leaked to the press and on television. Therefore, further preparations for the mob took place in strict secrecy. Participants up to last moment did not know what they had to do: they received instructions only 40 minutes before the start of the event. About 70 people bought a lollipop at the appointed hour and went to look at the windows. Then everyone crowded around the stall and began pestering the sellers with the question: “How many of these sweets do you need to eat to gain seven kilograms?”
The flash mob reached the Internet. The scenario is often the same: at the agreed time, mobbers enter the chat, say hello, remain mysteriously silent for several minutes, then politely say goodbye and leave. With enough mobbers, chat regulars get a slight shock.
1. Sweden, Stockholm. Flash mob in memory of Michael Jackson
2. Russia, Moscow. Another flash mob dedicated to Jackson. "Thriller", 08/29/2009
3. Russia, Moscow, flash mob in the Metropolis shopping center
4. Great Britain, Manchester, March 14, 2007. In the supermarket, about fifty people froze at the same time.
5. America, California. Ninja flash mob
6. “Naked flash mob of protest in Germany. Social flash mob against the introduction of “Undressing” scanners at airports.
7. Another “Naked Flash Mob” organized by Spencer Tunick on the eve of the gay pride parade in Sydney.
8. Flash mob “Ukraine, be silent!”, held on May 17, 2010. Participants protested against the Ukrainian authorities’ oppression of the people’s right to peaceful rallies, and in support of social activists in Russia, who are being persecuted by the authorities for peaceful protests.
9. Probably the most touching flash mob is “Free Hugs.” Official video
10. Free hugs in Moscow
11. Motor rally of the “Blue Bucket Society”
12. Dreamflash in Moscow
13. Pillow fight. New York, 2007
14. Zombie mob in Toronto, 2006
15. And here’s how the zombie mob went in Kyiv
16. Chernigov. Flash mob "Pillows"
17. Flash mob at a concert organized by Oprah Winfrey - the largest flash mob in the world. About 21,000 people took part in it. By the way, he is listed in the Guinness Book of Records
18. Spectacular flash mob in the hostel
19. Flash mob in the New York metro.
20. Traditional winter flash mob called No Pants Subway Ride. Hundreds of inhabitants New York, Atlanta and Los Angeles at the same time they go down to the subway, where they temporarily get rid of their pants and travel in their underwear.
21. Shocking Japanese flash mob
22. Switzerland. Flash mob of suicide bombers. Residents of Zurich witnessed the unexpected deaths of numerous event participants. Activists of the organization mingled with ordinary residents of the city, and then fell dead to the ground, thus depicting death due to a disaster from nuclear contamination.
23. Song flash mob in 156 countries
24. Flash mob with webcam
25. Israel. Very beautiful dance flash mob on the beach
26. Flash mob in a cafe
27. Ukraine, Kyiv. Book flash mob. More than 300 people read books at the same time, sitting on the dividing strip of the Maidan
28. Flash mob Water battle in the summer of 2010. in Moscow. Several hundred people came out to fight the heat, several hundred people armed with last word splashing equipment - bottles of water, water pistols and machine guns, as well as simply buckets and pans - in general, everything that can be splashed, poured and doused with.
29. Flash mob organized by Jamie Oliver
30. Flash mob with dancing pregnant women in London
Our rating includes hundreds of lonely Beyonces in Piccadilly Circus, gigantic emoticons and the Internet Bee-Challenge, which forced girls to flash their bare breasts. What collective ventures have settled in the neighborhood?
Who organized the first flash mob and how?
When sociologist Howard Reingold published Smart Crowds: The Next Social Revolution in 2002, he had no idea that the idea of using the Internet to organize oneself would become so popular. In the summer of 2003, Rob Zazueta, having developed flocksmart.com, decided to begin chronicling the “instant crowd” (this is how flash mob is translated from English).Although the first event, scheduled for June 3, was disrupted by the New York police, people liked the idea. On June 17, 2003, two hundred activists gathered at the exclusive Macy's carpet and told the sellers amazing story. A pitiful story about people living in a warehouse somewhere on the outskirts of New York and looking for the “rug of Love” shook the whole world. Very soon, flash mobs organized through LiveJournal took place in Moscow, Dnepropetrovsk, Kyiv, Odessa and St. Petersburg.
The planet was captured by flash mob euphoria. Competing in ingenuity and passing the baton to each other, active earthlings surprised their passive brothers who followed life through the media.
Top most famous flash mobs
In just a couple of months, the classic promotions, designed not to cause rejection or laughter, have had several subtypes. Socio-mobs engaged in political influence on the masses, advertising mobs - promoting the necessary goods and services, and extreme mobs - demonstrating hooligan “stuff”. The people began to collectively sing, dance, draw or simply smile. 
Optical illusion
15 pairs of twins, identical as two peas in a pod, staged a small psychological attack on the New York subway. Having perfected their movements to the smallest detail and dressed in identical outfits, the guys sat opposite each other in the carriages. Portraying ordinary passengers, they copied each other's movements down to the smallest detail. 
It is not surprising that their unlucky compartment neighbors, tired of looking at the simultaneously raised hands and turned over pages of newspapers, disembarked ahead of time.
The sea is agitated once...
In March 2007, 50 English flash mobbers said a little hello to the cameras that provided security in one of the supermarkets in Manchester. At the pre-agreed time, the activists who were making purchases froze in place, as if by magic. magic wand. After standing for four minutes, the “sea figures” came to life and, as if nothing had happened, continued to move towards the cash register. 
It's amazing that ordinary people who found themselves in the same store did not notice anything remarkable.
Mr Mandela, you will not die this week
“Heroes never leave,” decided the employees of the Woolworthsfood store and honored the great fighter for human rights with an unusual flash mob. Right in the middle of the working day, they sang with the vociferous church choir and stopped working. The composition “Gospel Flash Mob”, performed out of tune but with soul, shocked the visitors to tears. It is no wonder that the memorable action was captured on video and caused a storm of applause.Company of lonely Beyonce
On April 20, 2009, the usual rhythm of the morning London rushing to work was disrupted by deafening music. To the rhythms of the hit “Single Ladies”, which broke all records on the radio charts, a whole hundred girls jumped out onto the square. The ladies, throwing off their cloaks and flaunting tight tights, twirled their bodies and swung their legs. All traffic in the area was paralyzed: pedestrians, cyclists and bus drivers gaped at the unusual performance. It turns out that this dance flash mob was intended to draw attention to a prank free tickets to the Beyonce concert and had a commercial basis. The world, sucked into a dizzying whirlpool of flash mobs, can only envy the scope and imagination inherent in our domestic mobbers.A smile will brighten the day
September 14, 2008 residents Dmitry Medvedev, was captured by the QuickBird satellite and appeared on Google maps. 
Unfortunately, the weather that day was clearly not in good spirits: due to the piercing cold, the participants in the good-natured flash mob were forced to retreat to their homes.
Pillow battles
The popularity of children's fun, which has grown into a classic flash mob, is on truly cosmic proportions. Activists, hiding pillows in their bosoms, start a real war at the sound signal. A fierce fight, drowning in fluff and feathers, can end in a matter of seconds or last for hours. Special clubs have been created for fans of pillow fights, and flash mobs, which are regularly held in Moscow, Ufa and St. Petersburg, are so noisy that they are not without arrests. 
Lower my bra
This virtual flash mob, which occupied the Odnoklassniki and VKontakte networks, is very much loved by the male half of Russian society. Ladies who are not particularly modest take their bras off from where they are supposed to be and put them over their eyes. So they replenish the population of the erotic swarm of large bees or dragonflies. Unfortunately or fortunately, 85% of girls who participated in online surveys reacted negatively to BeeChallenge. Giraffe in the avatar - a memorable flash mob on VKontakteThe Americans, inspired by the idea, wrapped everything they could find in colorful packaging: light bulbs and canned food, toilet paper and a sausage stick. The children's dissatisfaction knew no bounds. Girls who received dolls instead fire truck, banged their heads against the wall, and the boys, who fished out the Barbie doll, swore at the innocent Santa in vain. Collective torture of immature psyches has become the leader of YouTube.
Not only flash mobs, but also other events are grandiose. The uznayvse website has an article about the most big and grandiose concerts.
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Flashmob ((English flash mob (flash - flash, instant, moment; mob - crowd, gathering) - instant crowd))- a large group of people that performs some similar actions and then disperses.
What is a flash mob
Examples physical actions participants (offline flash mobs):
After the flash mob, its participants meet physically or virtually, get acquainted, discuss the results of the action, plan further actions, come up with new flash mob scenarios and their goals.
Rice. 1. Example of a chain letter
One of the most widespread and popular offline flash mobs around the world is the dance flash mob.
Flash mobs on the Internet can occur spontaneously - in the form of comments on a funny post, variations of an interesting video story, or be planned when members of a group on a social network are given a task: put a picture on their avatar, answer a few questions and “pass the baton” to other users ( ask them to continue).
Flash mob on the Internet: history and features
Before the advent of the Internet, chain letters were common. The tradition (especially among children) of sending “chain letters” was reminiscent of a modern “flash mob”.
The letters said that the letter needed to be rewritten and sent to several acquaintances within a certain period. Many people took part in this game (Fig. 1).
With the advent of the Internet, this tradition was revived, acquired new forms and was called “flash mob”. The distribution medium for flash mobs is email, social media, forums, chats, video services.
How do flash mobs happen?
1) Flash mobs on the Internet can occur spontaneously. For example, in comments to posts, surveys - with the aim of having fun, having fun.
2) An Internet flash mob can be planned:
- to promote a website, brand, personality;
- for the purpose of conducting a hidden advertising campaign;
- in order to control the political sentiments of the masses.
The concepts of “advertising”, “political”, “social” flash mobs appeared. And also professional flash mobs - proflashes. All these actions in their goals, objectives, features of organization and implementation are the opposite of a regular flash mob. They contradict its original rules and principles.
The main (“classic”) goals and objectives of the flash mob
Flash mobs are made for random spectators, causing them feelings of confusion, misunderstanding, surprise, interest, delight and even a desire to join.
People take part in a flash mob with the aim of:
- have fun;
- feel freedom from society’s stereotypes and norms of behavior;
- capture the attention of others;
- assert oneself;
- get rid of complexes;
- get a “dose of adrenaline”;
- feel unity with other people;
- feel involved in a common action;
- get the effect of a “group psychotherapy” session;
- emotionally recharge (discharge);
- Find friends.
These goals are achieved using the “crowd effect”.
Flash mob participants - in Everyday life often serious, more or less successful people. The reason for participation in such actions, as a number of psychologists explain, is fatigue from everyday worries and routine.
Flash mob rules and principles
1) The director (leader) of a flash mob is often unknown.
2) The action should seem spontaneous.
3) Initially it was assumed that the flash mob should not contain advertising elements; be of a political, agitational nature; have financial goals. But such flash mobs (in pure form) are rare. The listed elements are most often present in the promotion.
5) Flash mob participants (ideally, people who do not know each other) should not show that they are connected by something. They should appear to be random participants: Internet users, “ordinary passers-by.”
6) The actions of the participants in the action can cause bewilderment, surprise, fun and delight. But the flash mob participants themselves do everything with a serious look.
7) The flash mob scenario (for outside observers) may seem absurd (the actions of the participants defy logic). For example, freeze in a certain position, circle a bottle on the asphalt with chalk, shoot a video that is meaningless in content.
However, the goals of the action can be clearly visible: to ridicule or condemn a certain media personality; achieve a specific result (for example, influence the course of the trial by mass commenting and filing petitions, etc.).
