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We've all seen flash mobs on TV or YouTube, and many get organized these days. But why would anyone want to join a flash mob?

Dance New Amsterdam choreographer Teri Steele, who works in Downtown Manhattan, has been in a few and says they allow everyone be a performer for a day.

"A flash mob is a surprise dance event," says Steele. "It's supposed to look like you're seeing it and are so excited by it that you jump and join in."

Like Steele, many of us first saw flash mobs online. Topping the viral list are a Belgian mob and France's Lady Gaga tribute.

It appears the first flash mobs were created back in 2003 and the term made its way to the dictionary by 2004. Another Flash mob milestone was the 2009 "I Gotta Feeling" flash mob organized by the Oprah Winfrey show.

Writer Shira Dicker has organized several flash mobs, including an international shofar blowing for the Jewish new year. She says they are popular because they allows us all to be a little bit bad.

"You're in a place where a performance doesn't necessarily take place, yet a performance does take place. You are also doing something only trained professionals get to do," says Dicker.

Historian Jane Mushabac agrees, saying the flash mob phenomenon, like the Occupy Wall Street movement, is about creating a balance of power.

"'Flash mob,' in my mind, appeals to our need to balance the public and private," says Mushabac. "It revalidates public space in its spontaniety, in its imaginative playfulness and whimsy."

In this economy, it's free entertainment and anyone can do it.

"Your average, everyday people, like a man in a suit or a mom with a kid, suddenly they break into dance. I think that's amazing," says dancer and radio host Ashani Mfuko.

A suit and a mom? I'm starting to have ideas. But I also learned flash mobs are supposed to be secret. So I won't say anything, just yet.