Activism by party

After the launch of Firefox and the parties organised by users (more than 400 last I checked), is this a new form of activism? I mean, everyone wants to party and using the internet, it will be pretty easy to organise people into meeting in a pub for a specific cause. I am sure the model, where individuals are organising their own local party will work just fine. In todays world of general apathy, we need some form of motivation that can get people out on the steets...