A flash crowd, as defined by wordspy.com, is:

"a sharp and often overwhelming increase in the number of users attempting to access a Web site simultaneously, usually in response to some event or announcement."

This phrase is one that is partially responsible for the creation of the phrase flash mob. The phrase was created back in 1971 by a science fiction writer named Larry Niven. In his story, a flash crowd is a large group of people teleporting to a specific place to witness an event. In more recent years, the phrase has been adapted to the World Wide Web. In a way, thousands of people accessing a particular web site at the same time is very similar to thousands of people teleporting to the same place because in both examples, the people involved are all seeing the same thing at the same time. A flash crowd usually occurs when there is a particular event taking place on a website such as the Victoria's Secret fashion show web cast. Flash crowds are similar to flash mobs and smart mobs because all three involve the use of technology resulting in a great deal of people visiting a location all at the same time.

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