After a refreshing round of cocktails and finger foods at Snap's modest and dignified launch party for Snap Shots, I headed over to 111
Minna for the Netvibes-sponsored blowout. I was greeted with a huge line outside the venue. Close to 100 bloggers, product evangelists and
Ajax coders -- many of them males wearing Banana Republic blazers over their Twitter T-shirts -- lined up on the curb next to San Francisco's uber-hipster art school joint, hoping to be let in before the booze ran out.
The company was celebrating the release of its Universes customizable public homepage service, but Ajax and widgets were distant blips on the radar of the attendees. What really had them packed in was the abundance of well-dressed attractive women, the dubbed-out sounds of the DJ and the fully-stocked open bar.
Throughout the night, I began to suspect that few in attendance were actual Netvibes fans. Rather, most of the people were there just because it was the hottest shindig on the Web 2.0 Expo calendar.
Indeed, Netvibes CEO Tariq Krim talked about Universes and said a few
"thank yous" around 11:00pm, but nobody heard him. The DJ didn't stop playing during the product announcement, leaving Krim's enthusiasm to be drowned out by a thudding Thievery Corporation remix.
Red Bull and vodkas flowed until well past midnight, at which point many of the party-goers left with little knowledge of what Netvibes does -- except throw a bitchin' party and pay for their drinks. --Michael Calore
For party photos, go to the jump!
Netvibes founder and CEO Tariq Krim feels the love in the room.
The magic words are "open bar."
Laughing Squid's Scott Beale grabs a brew.
Richard Moross founded Moo, the company that makes those cool little
Flickr business cards.
Nick Douglas gets cozy with Satisfaction's Cameron Walters.
Justin Jason Fields and Jake Levine of Snap left their own launch party to
drop in on Netvibes' soiree.
Mike Jones of Userplane/AOL.
Justin.tv's Justin Kan (with friend) was mobbed by photographers and fans.
What's a Web 2.0 party without free T-shirts?
