Wow. As of this minute, 2,308 people have joined the Facebook group called “Save Rialto Cinemas Lakeside!”. Using their Facebook site – here – Rialto supporters are sharing up-to-the-minute information and announcements, photos, commentary and strategy.

Only five days after people first learned that the Rialto owners had lost their lease, this site offers the latest testimony to the power of the Internet to transform political and social movements, big and small.

The folks involved in transferring the lease to a new theater operator are left to wonder where this momentum will lead.

Stay tuned for a hometown test of the power of social networks.