Flash mob psychology

Edit: This post is a rather old, I just found it in my post list and noticed I had forgotten to publish it.

Just "witnessed" a flashmob at Stockholm Central. And by "witnessed" I mean it failed mierably. The wierd thing is that I knew it would fail and I was only there because I was on the way to work anyway. So why did it fail?

Well... several reasons... lets just go over the basics of this flashmob in particular, here is the instructions(translated from Swedish):

"Stomp Flash Mob

Create confusion and joy in the morning stress! Wednesday December the 3:d, Morgonpasset arranges their very own flash mob in central stations all over the country. At exactly 08:10 we will start clapping or stomping the rhythm in the morning rush. Let us make this morning into an unforgettable experience!"

OK, what was the problem?

• Vagueness 1 - "Exactly 08:10" sounds pretty exact, but it is not. Everyone has their own watch (or cell phone or sun dial or whatever). Had they said "Exactly 08:10 according to the central station clock" there would be no doubt. And most of all: there would be no doubt in anyone's mind that everyone else knew the correct time to start.
• Vagueness 2 - "start clapping or stomping the rhythm". Stomp or clap? And to what rhythm? As it was called a Stomp Flash Mob I'd suggest skipping the clapping. And as for the rhythm, either make sure a clear rhythm is present or state that the goal is a single stomp.
• Time - The mob was announced (I base this on the Facebook wall post dates) just 9 or 10 days before it was supposed to occurr. Too little time for it to obtain a large following.
• "Shyness" - All the unceritanty in the flash mob definition above creates an unceirtanty in the potential participants. "Will I be the only one?". This will make people wait just a second extra in fear of looking like a fool. The "Will I be the only one?" question is one of the features of a flash mob that makes it exiting and interesting, but if the doubt is too large, it will just fail miserably.

Thank you Mr. David Nana

Ah Nigeria letters... or actually a Ghana letter... today I got my first one over Skype:

"Hello Bjarne,

I am Mr. David Nana, a reputable banker here in Accra, and I have in my bank the existence of a big amount that belongs to a deceased customer, named; Mr. Samedy Bjarne, a citizen of your country,
This amount is now in my bank without any claim because the deceased died in a deadly earthquake in china 2008, and left nobody for the claim

So I hereby request your assistance to receive this fund into your account as the beneficiary hence you bear same surname to the deceased
Please kindly send me your reply of interest to my private email address (david.nana05@hotmail.com)

As soon as I received your respond to my private email address, I will give you more details on how the transfer will be successful.

I am not a greedy person, so I am suggesting we share the funds equal, which is 50%/50% to both parties,

I wait for your response direct to my private email… We shall go over the details once I receive your urgent response in my private email address.
Best Regards

Mr David"

He is reputable, not greedy, wants me to reply to his hotmail, thinks my last name is Bjarne(It is my first name) and wants to give me a "big amount" of money, not because I am related to this deceased person, but because I have the same (first) name as his (last) name.

I love this. I love that a single person in the world would fall for this. It makes the world a more interesting place to live. When I win that super-duper-big-as-bonkers lottery: I will set aside a few million bux and send out a genuine version. The first one who replies gets an insane amount without any hassle. Or maybe it would be more fun to actually demand the "initial small deposit to cover transfer fees" and then wait a week and then dump a mountain of cash on them.

Thank you Mr David, I love you a little.