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When the Old World and the New World collide [EDIT: not so funny anymore] Artsapat Send a noteboard - 20/09/2012 08:22:09 AM
This past week saw a nice clash of the Old (disconnected, reading paper papers, off-line) World with the New (connected, using social media, on-line) World in the Netherlands. A girl living in Haren, a town in the North of the Netherlands (and for those who know a bit about Dutch geography, it happens to be right next to the town I'm going to live in at the end of this year), posted an invitation on Facebook to come and celebrate her 16th birthday with her. She just happened to forget to set the privacy setting on "Friends alone". Hilarity ensued.

The number of people saying they would attend quickly went into the thousands. The local government therefore proceeded to declare an emergency situation "as we cannot guarantee safety" (see what I did there Dark Knight? ;) ).

Ever since last Tuesday, government officials are trying to get a grip on the invitations and to monitor any developments on several social media around the party. It apparentely went viral on other forms of social media (Twitter, the more Dutch oriented Hyves and Habbo) which made it go from an invitation to friends, to some accepting the invitation thinking they could crash the party, to some accepting as a prank, to a full scale (Dutch) meme. Although I say Dutch, but maybe others have heard about it around the world? I wouldn't be really surprised if this went global - especially now that the police and the Ministry of Justice are involved and local media are swallowing this story whole.

Today, city hall issued a statement saying "there is no party".

("...try to realize the truth." "What truth?" "There is no party." )

We still don't know what to expect on Friday. (...) Our actions are now directed at making sure things won't go out of hand and stopping large groups of partygoers from coming here and being disappointed.


I find this hilarious even if the poor girl must feel terrible. At least she'll never forget her Sweet Sixteen. Neither will her parents, her friends, the mayor and the local police chief. Knowing the Internet, it will all end up with only a few people show up, those who don't really understand this new social media thing. And maybe some perverts. But overall, I doubt it'll be a big thing.
We'll see on Friday.


[EDIT:] Sorry all. As Legolas already pointed out below, it obviously did go out of hand, and it's not funny anymore. Hopefully they'll get at least some of the people who looted and rioted and we can put this behind us.
The mystery deepens... I think. *MySmiley*
This message last edited by Artsapat on 22/09/2012 at 03:46:25 PM
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When the Old World and the New World collide [EDIT: not so funny anymore] - 20/09/2012 08:22:09 AM 658 Views
So she gets NO Sweet Sixteen party? How sad. - 20/09/2012 09:56:34 AM 388 Views
That's hilarious. - 21/09/2012 12:30:06 AM 605 Views
Instant Update: - 21/09/2012 01:49:49 PM 729 Views
Re: Instant Update: - 21/09/2012 11:27:46 PM 398 Views
I thought this was going to be about the movie Melancholia... - 21/09/2012 02:34:08 PM 407 Views
Nah, wrong Board *NM* - 21/09/2012 08:23:51 PM 184 Views
After seeing the result of this, I think we can agree it's really not funny anymore. - 22/09/2012 10:54:38 AM 449 Views
Absolutely - 22/09/2012 02:23:24 PM 413 Views
Oh, there is a party... - 24/09/2012 03:08:28 AM 410 Views

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