Earlier this week, Los Angeles experienced the power of social media -- and not in a good way -- after a popular DJ named Kaskade tweeted an invitation to his 92,000 Twitter followers to attend a
"block party" to celebrate the opening of a music documentary about the Electric Daisy Carnival, a series of raves (I just totally dated myself), at Hollywood's famous Grauman's Chinese Theater.
"Let's see if the magic of social networking will work today," Kaskade tweeted -- and boy howdy, did it ever. The Los Angeles Times quoted Michael Duddie, the general manager of the Supperclub
entertainment venue, who happened to witness the rapturous response: "In two minutes there were 100 people, in three minutes there were 1,000 people, and by the time he got to the corner of Hollywood
and Highland there were 3,000 people around me. Cars couldn't go anywhere." The incredible speed of the response was due primarily to the availability of Twitter on smartphones, according to Duddie:
"He sent out a tweet and everybody's pockets just buzzed."
While the minute-to-minute description may be an exaggeration, given how long it takes to get anywhere in L.A., by all accounts the
"flash mob" did indeed coalesce with remarkable speed: according to the police, the designated meeting point filled up to overflowing less than half an hour after Kaskade's invitation went out. There
were so many people that the flatbed truck carrying the DJ and his equipment had to be diverted down a side street, which only succeeded in spreading the chaos, according to Duddie: "Another 1,000
kids ran down the street at top speed -- right down the middle of the street with traffic coming at them. It grew out of control."
Chaos is an apt description of the "near riot" that ensued,
as would-be party-goers -- deprived of their life-giving techno -- became rowdy, jumping on and vandalizing police cars and throwing objects at the police, who responded by shooting a volley of
non-lethal bean bags at the worst offenders. Kaskade was compelled to tweet: "EVERYONE NEEDS TO GO HOME NOW! I DON'T WANT THIS TO REFLECT BADLY ON EDM OR WHAT WE ARE."
And that is the real
question about social media and flash mobs: it's not so much how social media is used, but rather who is using it -- their character and intentions. While some critics might be tempted to dismiss any
spontaneous event catalyzed by social media as potentially dangerous and even criminal, the fact is, it depends entirely on the participants. How many of these sorts of gatherings have gone off
peacefully, without causing serious disruptions? It's possible to organize a spontaneous meeting of 1,500 people in a way that doesn't require riot police to intervene -- provided you don't invite the
wrong people.