Editing Flash mob (section)

==Crime==
{{main|Flash rob}}
Referred to as ''flash robs'', ''flash mob robberies'', or ''flash robberies'' by the media, crimes organized by teenage youth using social media rose to international notoriety beginning in 2011.<ref name="FOXN1" /><ref name="TIME3" /><ref name="WIRED1" /><ref>{{cite news | url = http://www.citylab.com/crime/2011/09/violent-flash-mobs-trend/143/ | title = Are Violent 'Flash Mobs' Really a Trend? | author = Daniel Denvir | date = September 26, 2011 | publisher = CityLab | access-date = June 18, 2014}}</ref> The [[National Retail Federation]] does not classify these crimes as "flash mobs" but rather "multiple offender crimes" that utilize "flash mob tactics".<ref>{{cite book | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=8hHFZx_tUhcC&q=flash+mob&pg=PA163 | title = Encyclopedia of Street Crime in America | author = Jeffrey Ian Ross | date = 2013 | publisher = Sage Publications | isbn = 978-1412999571 | access-date = June 18, 2014}}</ref><ref name="NRF1">{{cite web | url = https://nrf.com/sites/default/files/Documents/Multiple_Offender_Crimes_1.pdf | title = Multiple Offender Crimes | publisher = [[National Retail Federation]] | date = 2011 | access-date = June 19, 2014 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20140714233433/https://nrf.com/sites/default/files/Documents/Multiple_Offender_Crimes_1.pdf | archive-date = July 14, 2014 | url-status = dead | df = mdy-all }}</ref> In a report, the NRF noted, "multiple offender crimes tend to involve groups or gangs of juveniles who already know each other, which does not earn them the term 'flash mob'."<ref name="NRF1" /> Mark Leary, a professor of [[psychology]] and [[neuroscience]] at [[Duke University]], said that most "flash mob thuggery" involves crimes of violence that are otherwise ordinary, but are perpetrated suddenly by large, organized groups of people: "What social media adds is the ability to recruit such a large group of people, that individuals who would not rob a store or riot on their own feel freer to misbehave without being identified."<ref>{{cite web|last=Leary|first=Mark|title=Why People Take Part in Violent Flash Mobs|date=August 19, 2011 |url=http://today.duke.edu/2011/08/tip-flash-mobs|publisher=Duke University News and Communications|access-date=September 6, 2011}}</ref>

{{quotation|It's hard for me to believe that these kids saw some YouTube video of people Christmas caroling in a food court, and said, 'Hey, we should do that, except as a robbery!' More likely, they stumbled on the simple realization (like I did back in 2003, but like lots of other people had before and have since) that one consequence of all this technology is that you can coordinate a ton of people to show up in the same place at the same time.|Bill Wasik<ref name="TFT1">{{cite news | url = http://www.thefastertimes.com/news/2011/06/30/who-put-the-flash-mob-in-flash-mob-robberies/ | title = Who Put the 'Flash Mob' in Flash Mob Robberies? | author = Amanda Walgrove | date = 20 June 2011 | newspaper = [[The Faster Times]] | access-date = 2014-06-18 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20140903113444/http://www.thefastertimes.com/news/2011/06/30/who-put-the-flash-mob-in-flash-mob-robberies/ | archive-date = September 3, 2014 | url-status = usurped | df = mdy-all }}</ref>}}

{{quotation|These kids are taking part in what's basically a [[meme]]. They heard about it from friends, and probably saw it on YouTube, and now they're getting their chance to participate in it themselves.|Bill Wasik<ref name="WIRED1"/>}}

''[[HuffPost]]'' raised the question asking if "the media was responsible for stirring things up", and added that in some cases the local authorities did not confirm the use of social media making the "use of the term flash mob questionable".<ref name="HUFFPO1" /> Amanda Walgrove wrote that criminals involved in such activities do not refer to themselves as "flash mobs", but that this use of the term is nonetheless appropriate.<ref name="TFT1" /> Dr. Linda Kiltz drew similar parallels between flash robs and the [[Occupy Movement]] stating, "As the use of social media increases, the potential for more flash mobs that are used for political protest and for criminal purposes is likely to increase."<ref>{{cite news | url = http://webapps.icma.org/pm/9311/public/cover.cfm?author=Linda%20Kiltz&title=Flash%20Mobs%3A%20The%20Newest%20Threat%20to%20Local%20Governments&subtitle#f8 | title = Flash Mobs: The Newest Threat to Local Governments | work = Public Management Magazine | issue = December 2011 | author = Linda Kiltz | access-date = June 18, 2014 | url-status = dead | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20140826120952/http://webapps.icma.org/pm/9311/public/cover.cfm?author=Linda%20Kiltz&title=Flash%20Mobs%3A%20The%20Newest%20Threat%20to%20Local%20Governments&subtitle#f8 | archive-date = August 26, 2014 | df = mdy-all }}</ref>