A flash mob is not about commanding a force, but just spreading the word through a crowd.
Soviet Armor in WWII typically operated in company (~10 tanks) and later platoon (3-4 tanks) sized units due to a shortage of radios - only the command tanks had comms, and they used signal flags to communicate with the rest of the unit.
Optimal? Heck no.
Effective enough? Well, they managed to keep Moscow and Stalingrad from being overrun/cut off.
The point being, 1 person in 10 having working comms could be more than effective enough to command a mob, and more.