A RealLife BigLippedAlligatorMoment, Flashmobbing consists of coordinating a large number of people to show up in a given place at a given time, usually to do something silly and then disperse. Coordination is done primarily with some form of mobile messaging and relies on a FriendingNetwork to amass crowd size.

In short, it's a RealLife version of a CrowdSong or a bit of SpontaneousChoreography.

Flashmobbing just for the sake of flashmobbing has become somewhat passé. It still finds some interesting applications in a real world-new media interaction games.

The phenomenon was anticipated in Larry Niven's 1972 short story, "Flash Crowd", in which the spontaneous formation of huge mobs at the site of interesting events was the inevitable consequence of cheap, readily-accessible {{teleportation}}. Really, all it took was cheap, readily-accessible ''communications''. The idea has also been used as proof that backward time travel is impossible: if it was, there should ''be'' flashmobs at every major historical event.[[labelnote:*]]They could have been disguised...[[/labelnote]]

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!!Examples:

* The Anonymous Anti-Scientology protests on the 10th of Feb could be considered a form of flashmobbing. Flashmobbing with a point.
* Combined with another internet phenomenon as hundreds of flashmobbers descended on a London railway station to sing Music/RickAstley's [[JustForFun/{{Rickroll}} greatest hit]].
* [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobile_Clubbing Mobile Clubbing]]: A bunch of people meet at some street corner with the Walkmans and [=MP3=] players, and start dancing each to their own music.
* Rob Manuel [[http://www.robmanuel.com/2009/06/27/how-i-started-the-jacko-flashmob-by-accident/ explains]] how he started a huge moonwalking flashmob... by accident.
* An example of a recent 'mobbing that was not so passé: [[http://flickr.com/groups/vancouver_zombiewalk_2005/ zombies mob Vancouver!]]
* flashmob plus SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic equals [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SXh7JR9oKVE Food Court Hallelujah Chorus]].
* The entire point of Creator/ImprovEverywhere is to set these types of events up.
* One example involving [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_j8hIZrFiSY drag and the Sydney Opera House]].
* One variation of a flashmob involves everyone showing up and instead of bursting into song and dance... [[TimeStandsStill they don't do anything]]. Of course, after remaining frozen for a few minutes, everyone [[UnPaused Un Pauses]].
* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XAXAs03xsI8 Verdi in an Amsterdam department store]]
* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GBaHPND2QJg A Spanish bank celebrated its 130th anniversary with Beethoven]]
* The Polish cast of ''Theatre/LesMiserables'' flash-mobbed a mall in Warsaw to promote the show, which was opening at a theater close by. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DXgCrhIevwU It was pretty damn cool.]]
** Perhaps inspired by the Polish production, a production in Miami [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cn8PiqIXEjQ performed their own flash-mob.]]
* In "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gOfOIQ5ayzI College of DuPage Flash Mob Dance and Pep Rally]]", one of ''Website/{{Cracked}}'''s [[http://www.cracked.com/blog/5-videos-that-will-brighten-your-day/ 5 Videos That Will Brighten Your Day]], a half dozen people perform rehearsed dance moves, and then someone outside the group spontaneously joins in the dance fever. "Oh, [[MusicalWorldHypotheses life is a musical now]]? OK, I'd better adapt!"
* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-k-7mEyPkR0 A flash mob in Verona, Italy]] paid tribute to ''Film/TheBluesBrothers''.
* The Broadway cast of ''Theatre/TheLionKing'' [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W9QMM_nTuC4 flashmobbed a New York subway car with "The Circle Of Life.]]
* The US Air Force Band used flash mobs at the Smithsonean Air and Space Museum to promote their free Christmas concerts in [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-cKE8pyfcZc 2013]] and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vniBBT7nRJg 2014]].
* Music/LindseyStirling shot her video for [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RrutzRWXkKs "Master of Tides"]] as a flash mob.
* The "freeze mob" varient was used to [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6wjf_lWxqyI promote the release]] of ''VideoGame/StarWarsTheOldRepublic''
* When Music/{{U2}} appeared on ''Series/JimmyKimmelLive'' in May of 2017, at one point during the interview, they pushed Jimmy's desk and couch aside, brought out a drum kit and amps and sang [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dS5oaAsBaGA "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For"]]. Several of the audience members turned out to be a gospel choir who joined in after the second verse.
* Creator/DickVanDyke's wife arranged a flash ''Film/MaryPoppins'' [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ref9CYaWKm4 medley performance]] for his 90th birthday.

!!Fictional examples:

[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder: Advertising ]]

* AT&T shows us what happens if flash mobsters [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bd8ppk0UCx8 can't keep in touch]].

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Film ]]

* In ''Film/LoveActually'', Mark flash-mobs Peter and Juliet's wedding by having a small choir and orchestra emerge from the pews after the ceremony to serenade the happy couple with [[Music/TheBeatles "All You Need is Love".]]

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Literature ]]

* ''Literature/LittleBrother'', by Cory Doctorow, provides an example of this; the Xnet was used to set up an event based on a vampire LARP [[spoiler:in order to provide cover for Marcus and Ange to meet up with a DHS mole]].
* ''Literature/TheRoosevelt'': In ''Carry the Ocean'', Emmet, Jeremey, and David agree to start dancing to "[[Music/PharrellWilliams Happy]]" in Target, dressed as Film/TheBluesBrothers, while Sally and Douglass film them. About ten strangers join them in a dance line through the store.

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Live Action TV ]]

* In one episode of ''Series/CSIMiami'', the flashmob is intended to help find a body (since the guy who arranged it didn't want to report it himself and implicate a friend).
* In ''Series/{{Selfie}}'', Henry is trying to be supportive to co-worker Larry, whose wife left him, so he agrees to participate in an office flash mob. However, Henry finds out Larry does these all the time for his wife-and she hates them. At the end of the episode, Larry tries a smaller and better received gesture-only for one last co-worker to burst in and start dancing in a spangly onesie.
* ''flashmob - The Opera'' was the title of a [[Creator/TheBBC BBC Three]] musical event that took place in Paddington Station, with the audience/chorus being assembled as a flashmob.
* The Safety Dance in the mall in ''Series/{{Glee}}''. [[spoiler: it was AllJustADream]]. They do it again in "Born This Way."
* A season 2 episode of ''Series/ModernFamily'' involves [[spoiler:Mitch]] participating in a flash mob.
* The ''Series/{{Numb3rs}}'' episode "Animal Rites" has a {{subverted}} example: The flashmob was organized ahead of time [[spoiler: by the villain to distract the authorities at a key moment.]]
* ''Series/{{Qi}}'': The audience for the Season 'O' Christmas episode turned out to be a choir, and ended the show with a chorus of "We Wish You a Merry Christmas".
* ''Series/TheOtherTwo'' has Carey get an acting job as part of a flash mob that exists to entertain tourists.

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Webcomics ]]

* Parodied in ''Webcomic/QuestionableContent'' wherein one of the characters talks about flashmobs appearing in costume to do scenes from ''Film/TheLordOfTheRings'', ''Franchise/StarWars'', ''Literature/HarryPotter'', and so on, and then dispersing, and how you occasionally get Gandalf v. [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII Sephiroth]] fights when people don't coordinate properly.

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Western Animation ]]

* In ''WesternAnimation/KingOfTheHill'', after Hank calls Donna an idiot on his Website/MySpace account, [[DisproportionateRetribution she has all her MySpace friends gather outside Strickland Propane to attack him.]] She even proudly referred to it as a flashmob. [[spoiler: It spectacularly backfires when the mob mistakes Buck (her boss) for Hank, resulting in the mob assaulting Buck and Donna getting fired.]]

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