words and pictures by Brian Solis

During SXSW Interactive 2009, interesting, notable, and unexpected geeks as well as the Internet Famous filled the streets in and around the conference and the after hours parties.

Some of my best encounters happened simply by walking from point A to point B.

I’ll let the pictures tell the rest of the stories…

Corvida

Drew Olanoff shows us the bid-winning @melaniemitchell tattoo

Chris Brogan, @geekmommy, Justin Levy throw up Hashtag signs

Dan Patterson of ABC

Sarah Townsend performs on a random Austin street corner

Gregarious Greg Narain vs. Corvida

Scott Beale of Laughing Squid and Brian Solis

Violet Blue, Robert Scoble, Alexia Tsotsis

Frank Gruber channeling Johnny Cash

Sun/Nokia Fogo De Chao

Francisco Dao, Lynne Johnson

Brian Solis, Jessica Berlin, Ilana Arazie, Gregarious

Please read:

The Human Network: The Social Economy is Influenced by How We Communicate Online & Offline (My philosophical analysis of what makes SXSW so special)

Which parties did you hit or miss?

Check em off at Diddit: SXSW Interactive Festival 2009 Party List

Pictures:

SXSW – The Calm Before the Storm

SXSW Day One

TechSet + Windows Mobile Rat Pack 2.0 Party

SXSW Day Two

Diggnation Party at Stubbs

We Flashmob the Driskill

AllHat @Allens Boots

Brian Solis Book Signing @SXSW

Are PR Agencies a Dying Breed: Brian Solis joins the panel

Kirtsy, AllTop Party @Allens Boots

Pool 2.0 – SocialMediaClub

SXSW Day Four

Paul Nelson Performs in the TechSet + Windows Mobile Blogger Lounge

Dell Adamo Premiers at SXSW

Power Geek Girl Tweetup in the TechSet + Windows Mobile Blogger Lounge

Rackspace + Scoble Party

Blurb + Mashable Party

SXSW Day Five

WorldSings.com

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words and pictures by Brian Solis

Gnomedex is over and since we’re about to fly through several incredible events including Office 2.0, DEMOfall, and TechCrunch50, I thought it would be a good idea to commemorate my incredible experience in Seattle.

Gnomedex is by far one of my favorite stops on the networking circuit as it levels the playing field and creates a truly equal forum for sharing our experiences while learning from those of others. It’s like a TED for geeks. And, it’s not just the valuable lessons and insight that we learn in those action-packed two days, it’s the relationships that you build and carry forward with you that mean everything. If you have never attended, then block out the time and start saving for Gnomedex 2009.

I walked away with so many wonderful memories and new ideas. From Danny Sullivan’s talk on Search Life Meets Real Life and Beth Kanter’s motivating stories on Using Social Media for Good Causes to Francine Hardaway’s fantastic and lively discussion with Mark Bao on Generation Y and Kris Krug’s fun and helpful talk on photography tips (it was great to finally meet him!). The conversations that took place in the hallways as well as the even receptions were also equally significant.

I’ll let the pictures tell the rest of the story.

Chris Pirillo at the opening reception holding one of the many HP notebooks given away

Brian Solis, Drew Olanoff of Strands, and Sarah Lacy live on GnomedexTV

Tara Hunt

Larry Halff of Ma.gnolia

Danny Sullivan

Mark Bao

Francine Hardaway

Ponzi and Chris Pirillo

Beth Kanter

Sarah Lacy, Tara Hunt, Olivia Hine, Francine Hardaway

Londa Quisling of Iterasi

Ryan Stewart

Ranvir Gujral of Bluewhale Labs

Duncan Riley

Liz Strauss

Geoff Livingston

Robert Scoble

Dave Mathews

Jeremy Wright of B5 Media

Sara Czyzewicz of DandyID

Maryam Scoble and Danielle Morrill

Marshall Kirkpatrick

Liz Strauss and Alex Williams

Brian Solis and Jeremy Wright

The crew at the Edgewater Hotel

For more pictures of Gnomedex, please visit my album on flickr.

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by Brian Solis

Even though I’ll be in Seattle for Gnomedex 8.0, the rest of the bub.blicio.us crew will be supporting the Mashable Monthly Series as an official media sponsor on 8/21.

The event will be held at Roe Restaurant in SF from 7 – 10 p.m. Make sure to stop by the bub.blicio.us backdrop on your way in to have your picture taken by the bub crew.

Join Mashable and San Francisco’s tech elite for an evening of meeting, mingling and conversing about web’s hottest new services while enjoying light appetizers and drink tickets.

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words and pictures by Brian Solis

1,100 people.

1 place

1 more milestone in the evolution of the Social Economy.

The third annual TechCrunch August Capital party is to the Palo Alto Web 2 community what the running of the bulls is to Pamplona. People flew in from all over the world to be there and it was nothing short of incredible, valuable, and overwhelming. So many fascinating, trend setting, and visionary people mingled freely and genuinely as if for one small moment in time, everyone was equal.

Thank you TechCrunch and August Capital for hosting a memorable and important event.

I’ll let the pictures tell the rest of the story.

Cathy Brooks and Stephanie Agresta

Eric Eldon and Chamillionaire

Sarah Lacy, Tariq Krim, and Brooke Hammerling

iLick the iPhone

Daniel Brusilovsky

Valerie Cunningham, Matt Marshall of VentureBeat and Adeo Ressi of TheFunded.com

Michael Arrington

Shira Lazar

Chamillionaire, Randi Zuckerberg, Jeff Lange, Michael Teng

Wired Cover Girl Julia Allison and @Miguel23

Miiko Mentz of FWStudios shoots a video for TechCrunch’s Elevator Pitch

Deb Schultz and Christopher Carfi

Michael Arrington

Laurie Anne Lassek, Gregarious Greg Narain, Christine Herron

Alison McNeill of bub.blicio.us

Dave Morin of Facebook and Peter Pham

Jason Nazar of Docstoc and Shira Lazar of NBC

AJ Vaynerchuk

David Sifry and Sarah Lacy

Cyan Banister of Zivity

Greg Narain and Deb Schultz

Tantek Celik

Alex Ho, MC Hammer, Brian Solis, Chamillionaire, Jeff Lange

Miiko Mentz

MC Hammer of DanceJam

The after party at the Four Seasons – Justin Kan and Nick Gonzales of Social Media

The after party at the Four Seasons – Alex Ho, Shira Lazar, Tariq Krim

The after party at the Four Seasons

Please visit my albums on flickr for more pictures from TechCrunch August Capital 3 and the After Party.

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by Brian Solis

Guy Kawasaki continues to expand his Alltop empire with the addition of Frienderati, an aggregated activity dashboard of the top 100 names and their Friendfeed updates. Similar to Alltop’s Twitterati list, which was designed to help people discover important and active voices on Twitter, Frienderati helps those new to FriendFeed shortcut to the most popular and/or insightful contributors.

Thank you Guy for including me in the list.

Yuval Atzmon over at User21 also created a FriendFeed list. Dubbed the FriendFeed Top 250, it features a list of the most followed personalities on FriendFeed. Yuval is tracking the most discoverable users based on activity and subscribers. His most recent list is based on June 2008 numbers. Thank you Yuval for including me in your list.

The full Frienderati list is included below…I’m working on the HTML to include The Top 250 shortly.

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The Alltop Frienderati by Guy Kawasaki

Aaron Brazell – Lead Editor at Technosailor
Adam Ostrow – Editor-In-Chief at Mashable
Aliza Sherman – Author, Producer, Blogger
Allen Stern – Editor of CenterNetworks
Amber Mac – New Media Journalist
Andrew Chen – Entrepreneur
Andy Beard – Niche Marketing
Annie Boccio – Founder of Pixel Currents
Becky McCray – Small Town Entrepreneur
Ben Metcalfe – Social Media, Web2.0 Consultant
Beth Kanter – Social Media Consultant to Non-Profits
Brian Solis – Publisher bub.blicio.us
Burt Lum – Digital Ronin
Cathryn Hrudicka – Chief Imagination Officer
Cathy Brooks – Genetically Engineered Communicator
Chris Brogan – Social Media Expert
Chris Pirillo – Founder of L0ckergn0me
Christine Lu – Founder of the China Business Network
Corvida – Mass Media Student of SheGeeks.net
Dan Farber – Vice President at CNET Networks
Dave Winer – Entrepreneur, Software Developer, Social Media Expert
David Sifry – Founder Technorati
Don MacAskill – CEO of SmugMug
Emily Chang – Award-winning Web Designer, Technology Strategist
Eric Eldon – Reporter with VentureBeat
Eric Rice – New Media Producer, Writer
Erick Schonfeld – Co-Editor, TechCrunch
Erin Kotecki Vest – Queen of Spain, BlogHer, Huffington Post
Francine Hardaway – Entrepreneur, Mentor, Investor
Fred Wilson – VENTURE CAPITALIST
Frederic Lardinois- PhD student, Web2.0 Writer
Gabe Rivera – Creator of Techmeme
Ginger Makela – Social Media Specialist
Guy Kawasaki – Author, Speaker, Online Magazine Editor of Alltop
Jason Kaneshiro – Writer at Webomatica
Jeff Jarvis – Writer, Consultant for New Media
Jeremiah Owyang – Sr. Analyst at Forrester Research
Jeremy Zawodny – Craigslist
Josh Quittner – Time Magazine’s Editor at Large
Justine Ezarik – New Media Connoisseur
Karen Padham Taylor – Product Manager at Google
Kathy Johnson – PR, Analysis, Results
Kent Newsom – Proprietor of Newsome.org
Kevin Rose – Founder of Digg
Kristen Nicole – Lead Writer for Mashable
Laura Fitton – Social Media Expert, Consultant
Leah Culver – Founder, Developer of Pownce
Leo Laporte – Author, Tech Broadcaster of TWiT Live
Loic Le Meur – Entrepreneur, Founder of Seesmic
Louis Gray – Corporate Technology Marketer
Maggie Fox – CEO of Social Media Group
Maki – Sole Writer of DOSHDOSH
Mari Smith – Relationship Marketing Consultant
Maria Reyes-McDavis – Social Media Diva
Mark “Rizzn” Hopkins – Associate Editor of Mashable
Mark Krynsky – Lifestream
Marshall Kirkpatrick – Lead Blogger at ReadWriteWeb
MG Siegler – Reporter at VentureBeat
Muhammad Saleem – Social Media Marketing Consultant
Nicole Simon – European New Media Specialist
Niniane – Google’s Engineer Manager
Paul Kedrosky – Investor, Writer, Entrepreneur
Pete Cashmore – Mashable
Philipp Lenssen – Google Blogoscoped
Rafe Needleman – Editor of Webware
Rebecca Briggs – Helping the World Heal from the Inside Out
Richard MacManus – Editor and publisher of ReadWriteWeb
Rob Diana – Regular Geek
Robert Scoble – Tech Evangelist
Roxanne Darling – Technology Trainer, Speaker
Ryan Ozawa – Father, Husband, and Web Geek
Sarah Lacy – Author
Sarah Perez – Blogger at ReadWriteWeb and Channel 10
Scott Beale – Publisher, Editor of Laughing Squid
Shannon Seery Gude – Geek Marketer
Stephanie Booth – Social Media Consultant
Steve Rubel – Digital Marketer
Steven Hodson – WinExtra
Susan Bratton – Podcast Publisher
Susan Reynolds – New Media Consultant
Tamar Weinberg – Lifehacker and Mashable
Tara Hunt – Online Marketing Professional
Thomas Hawk – CEO Zooomr Inc.
Tom Foremski – Founder Silicon Valley Watcher
Tony Hung – Blogger
Tris Hussey – Training Manager b5Media
Veronica Belmont- Host of Tekzilla on Rev3 and Qore on PSN
Wendy Piersall – CEO and Founder of Sparkplug
Alex de Carvalho – Social Media Consultant

words and pictures by Brian Solis

Tiffany Weller

The day after our successful TechSet event at the Luxe in Bel-Air, I was one of the lucky ones who attended the highly regarded Southern California tech event, Twiistup.

Hats off to Mike and Stephanie Macadaan. Twiistup4 was not only a resounding success, it raised the bar for tech events in general. Twiistup played host to an immersive experience that effectively materialized online social networks and virtual worlds into the real world.

Held at the posh VIceroy Hotel in Santa Monica, Twiistup created its own shangri la, where for just a few hours, we were able to completely lose ourselves in the conversations and ensuing friendships that will extend the well beyond the evening. Even though we were poolside, we were catapulted into a glamorous and elegant isolated island that seemed worlds away form the daily routine.

Cabanas were redesigned as themed destinations complete with Hookah Pipes, beds, lounges, and more accoutrements than I could possibly remember. And, the pool became a social stage covered in a see-through acrylic platform, which hosted some of the cooler conversations and shenanigans throughout the course of the evening.

I also wanted to take a moment to say congratulations to Twiistup’s Showoffs.Out of over a hundred applications to demo, the following companies introduced their products and services to the Twiistup crowd:

Bigstage
BookRenter
Compulsion
LOUD3R
Minggl
Musicshake
Phonevite
Seethroo
Strutta
Tools to Life
Twiddla

I’ll let the pictures tell the rest of the story, and some of them tell more than that!

Heather Meeker

Jennifer Stavros

Sean Percival

Brooks Bayne in bed with HeavyBagMedia

Brian Solis with Twiistup host, Mike Macadaan

Robert Scoble

Karen Hartline

Krystle McEachron and Em. Marc Salsberry

Shira Lazar and Brian Solis

Stephanie Agresta and Stephanie Macadaan

Before: Heather Lipner meets Pickle Man

After: Pickle Man and Heather Lipner “kick” and make-up

Desdemona Bandinin and Tameka Kee

Karen Hartline and Erica O’Grady

Before

After

Jackie Peters and Valerie Cunningham

Dave Mathews

Natalie Lent and Wm. Marc Salsberry

Melodi Cowan

Stephanie Agresta and Tim Street of FrenchMaidTv

Steve Wiebe plays Donkey Kong

Michael Liskin

Brian Solis and Pete Cashmore

Shira Lazar and Pickle Man

Sloane Berrent and Dhalia of Rubicon

Kevin Winston and Amanda Coolong

Michael J. Lambie

Siobhan O’Neill, ?, Sloane Berrent, Nicol Jordan (with Fun Dip)

Francisco Dao

Alexandra Mokh

For more pictures from Twiistup4, please visit my album on Flickr.

UPDATE: Francisco Dao discusses Twiistup and the Southern California tech economy at Fast Company Buzz.

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by Brian Solis

I <3 Los Angeles and the people who are defining the social economy and expanding the mainstream pervasiveness of the new Web.

This consequential, yet humble group of digital influencers is investing in not only their own ideas, but actively collaborating around the vision of others – literally putting the “social” in the Social Web. It’s an incredible movement that is growing in LA as well as other cities around the world, creating a network of connected beacons that unite to create a global community while defining the next tech economy.

The TechSet convened in Los Angeles at the ultra-stylish Luxe Hotel last night as part of a “mini” Internet Week that is storming Southern California and hosting the digerati every night this week.

The TechSet represented a new era of celebrity, bringing together emerging, successful and popular personalities, artists, entrepreneurs, bloggers, and connectors. The night was beautiful, warm, and more importantly, the perfect place to meet those rich in intellect and forge new relationships that serve as catalysts to future projects and engagements.

It was unpretentious and inviting and we look forward to hosting the next TechSet in Los Angeles very soon. Thank you for being part of it and for making it such a special, productive, and memorable evening.

I’ll let the pictures tell the rest of the story:

Becky Ryan and Heather Meeker

Sean Percival

Melodi Cowan and Dave Mathews

Julian Brass

Oren Michels of Mashery

TechZulu

Jennifer Fader

Jullianna Raye

Harry Gantz and Tim Street

Dave Mathews and Stephanie Agresta

Valerie Cunningham and Aaron Strout of Mzinga

Becky Ryan, Brian Solis, Heather Meeker

Todd Cohen and Ian Kilpatrick

Greg Narain and Jackie Peters

Heather Lipner

Liz Federowicz

Wm. Marc Salsbury, Melodi Cowan, Michael Pilla, Alicia Lin

Damon Alexander Young

?, Kurt Dardics, Yvonne Randolph

Michael Terpin

Seth Shapiro

Brooks Bayne and Alicia Lin

Andrew Justin, Greg Narain, Jackie Peters, and Brian Solis

THE AFTER PARTY

The view

Brian Solis

Sean Percival

For more pictures from the TechSet @Luxe party, visit my album on flickr.

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by Brian Solis

Mashable’s US Summer Tour 2008 is in full swing, and last night, San Francisco’s Mighty hosted the latest stop.

The party drew hundreds of geeks from the SF Bay Area as well as many others who were in town from around the country. I arrived at about 7 p.m. and was greeted by a line of over 100 early arrivals slowly, but surely, making their way inside. At first glance, I noticed that everyone was stylishly dressed, which indicated to me, that it was not going to be the usual tech party. And, indeed it wasn’t. This was a gathering of those who are indubitably defining the social economy and the new Web along with it, from the architects to entrepreneurs to marketers and everyone in between.

The crowed poured into a warehouse-sized venue, leaving almost zero room to easily navigate between the popular beacons who held court throughout the evening. Depending on the location, conversations took place one person at a time – it was just that loud and that packed, and it didn’t lighten up until well after it was scheduled to end.

I’ll let the pictures tell the rest of the story:

Johannes Grenzfurthner

Johannes Grenzfurthner, Scott Beale of Laughing Squid and Brian Solis

Corvida

Aubrey Sabala and Sarah Austin

Larry Chiang

Marc Canter

Pete Cashmore

Willo O’Brien of Willotoons and Aubrey Sabala of DIGG

Ben Metcalfe

Corvida, Erica Lee, Eliana Fiolet

MG Siegler of VentureBeat and Pete Cashmore

Ben Wan and Melodi Cowan

Karen Hartline and Pete Cashmore

Alex Ho

Brian Solis and Sarah Austin

Mashable’s Exit Strategy

Visit my album on Flickr for more pictures from the Mashable Summer Tour party in SF.

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