Online invites can pull mega crowd

Mass party invites via social media can cause more trouble than parents realise.

Parents seem unaware of the numbers that can be drawn to their kids' parties.

A Plunket Street resident was surprised at the number of people who turned out for their house party on Saturday night and she didn't know a Facebook event had been created. She arrived home to find about 400 people in the street - far more than the 150 maximum she had expected.

"I don't know how these things work, I didn't know there was anything on Facebook," the resident said.

Netsafe executive director Martin Cocker said: "A lot of young people who send out mass invites know how far they will reach."

But parents seemed unaware of how far a social media invitation could spread.

Not much could be done to educate parents about the use of social media to create mass gatherings but party organisers should use the functions available on sites such as Facebook to limit the number of attendees, said Mr Cocker.

"People need to understand the mechanisms of Facebook, there are ways to contain the invite."

Another option was The Party Registration Scheme, which allowed individuals and businesses to register their party or event with the police.

RoadSafe Hawke's Bay regional manager Linda Anderson said it had two or three parties registered each week from a broad range of age groups.

Police were able to run safety checks on the event in the course of their patrols.

Visit www.partyregisterhb.co.nz for more information.