Posts promoting protests throughout the country on social media in recent days have used it as a jumping off point, using the phrase "#YoSoy132" ("I am 132") on Twitter and Facebook.

Maria Elena Meneses, a professor who studies new technologies and information at Monterrey Tech, said the way the Ibero students' actions appeared to be triggering protests fueled by social media was "unprecedented" in Mexico.

"It is probably extreme to say that it is a Mexican Spring, alluding to (the protests) in North Africa, but nobody can dare to underestimate an action in which social networks were the catalyst for youth unrest," she wrote in an opinion column for CNNMexico.com this week.

Many students in Mexico City on Wednesday said they were excited about the success of the protest, which police said more than 15,000 people attended.

"I believe in the movement. I believe young people, we have great power in our hands. We have information and media that other groups do not have," said Paula Diaz, 23, a student at the National Autonomous University of Mexico. "It is my duty to be here, informing people. I think we can do something great."

Some said the group needs stronger organization in order to prosper.

"We have to make the transition from noise to words," said Maria Fernanda Galicia, 22, a student at the Iberoamerican University.

Protesters plan to meet Saturday in a part of Mexico City known as Tlatelolco to form a more specific strategy and draw up goals for what they say is a burgeoning movement.

"There is a spark, but if we leave it apathetically, it will dissolve," said Angel Rodriguez, 19, a student at a music school run by Mexico's City's cultural ministry.

The plaza where students say they are planning to meet this weekend has significant historical significance in Mexico.

It is the site where many student protesters were killed during a rally in 1968. Increased democracy and free expression were among their demands at the time.