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That’s what Chrissie Brodigan overheard. Some of the twitterholics got together tonight and actually met up face-to-face. I mean actually shaking hands and seeing eye-to-eye… I know, crazy right?

Of course, as with any good support group, some of us lamented our recent experiences with twitter’s infamous downtime and the possibilities of FriendFeed. (<hypnoticVoice>come to FriendFeed Rebecca </hypnoticVoice> ;-)

As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, the tech/start-up scene in NYC is impressive. This time, it was Whitney Hess’s fault for getting us all together. I’d never met her before, but began following her randomly on twitter through Livia Labate, who I began following through Christina Wodtke. I thought for sure it was going to be all awkward, but was pleasantly surprised to find several familiar faces and some familiar names of whom I’d only talked with online (glad to finally shake hands, Charlie) Plus, met a few others with whom I share new connections. (@mknell, thanks for getting me on the right train!)

Whitney was saying that one of the reasons she did this was because she promised herself to get out in the community more this year. I’m on the same track actually. Well, she did a great job and I hope to see more… (hint hint: use meetup.com or upcoming)

Actually, funny thing about meeting Ms. Hess. Turns out we’re closer than we thought. Apparently, she worked on the new Earthlink site at TribalDDB with Brian Regan (to whom I owe many thanks for giving me a shot in UX) before I did and then came back on after I left. Knew her name sounded familiar before following her. {insert small-world cliché here}

Glad I followed the randomness because the “Tweetup” was teh awesome! Tony Bacigalupo showed up with Sanford and I hadn’t talked with him since the CooBric opening. He and Brett Petersel of Mashable fame shared a bit about Tech-Karaoke which just sounds like a blast. Awesome seeing you guys again, really glad you could make it out. (Can’t find linkage for Tech-Karaoke!) Sanford had to bail early, though. (Boooo!)

I’ve probably missed some people. Sorry! :-)
Update:Whitney posted an excellent round-up of everyone. (with easy-to-read bullets too :-)

Some Benefits of Getting Out for Face-Time, Post-Online Time

This is when our inter-connected technologies literally come to life. Here are people all met entirely through online activities (for me anyway) now with the chance to meet in person. And because most of our interactions had been sans-physical, there was an excitement set to see and hear who we all are in a real-time, real-world interaction. Interestingly, and I’m sure there could be an entire psych dissertation written about this, it seems that experiences like this have some pre-existing social grease on them because a common ground is already established.

The Web is finally becoming the *Web*.

Shout-Outs

d.b.a. was the spot: great service, great priced drinks.

I want to give an awesome big thanks to Tom Limegello from CrispMedia for getting the pizza. Owe you one.

This was the only good photos I got. Brett has some on his FB page, though.

Oh, and @webmetricsguru has some video, need to find links, though.

NYC Tech Scene is Quiet?

Pishaw! The New York Web scene always seems somewhat quieter compared to the freewheelin’ West-Coaster Valley folks, but don’t be fooled. There is a mighty reserve of fine peeps here creating fun, ad-hoc cross-polinating events all the same. Maybe it’s just quality trumping quantity. ;-)

Not-To-Miss NYC Internet Social Events for Summer 2008

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