Posted September 3, 2008. Laura Iriarte discusses her perspective on social media.

I found this on YouTube.com when I was googling myself one day! I barelyyy remember doing this. I think it may have been at a Mashable.com event. If anyone knows, tell me!

December 27, 2008 - Last night I swam in a sea of squids and neon jellyfish. I went to the Laughing Squid Unholiday Party. It was great! It was MY kind of party - art and social media! Woo! I was in heaven!

Sometimes I go to these events not sure of who I’ll know there or who I’ll meet. It’s always been a pleasant surprise. I did see some friends as well as met some wonderful new people! I just love being a Social Media Butterfly!

The party was held at an as-yet-unnamed art gallery in San Francisco. It is a live/work space run by housemates Jeff Herzbach, Jessica Hughes, and Andy Fusso who lives part time near Mt. Shasta. Andy had on the most amazing knitted vest! It houses Venusian Gardens West, a showcase of wonderfully glorious Neon Sculptures by artist Eric Ehlenberger. The neon jellyfish were so beautiful and befitting of the Squid Party!

Our host and hostess for the night were Scott Squid Beale and Lori Dorn. Scott is known as the primary tentacle of Laughing Squid, a site and newsletter which promotes art, culture and technology from San Francisco and beyond. (If you live anywhere in the San Francisco Bay Area, you need to sign up for this newsletter!) Even though it was held in an art gallery, the party was unpretentious. People were encouraged to bring leftovers and a bottle of wine to share. The vibe was friendly and even cozy. I met Lori Dorn for the first time last night - she was so nice and gracious, great people the Dorn/Beale’s.

It was nice to see Doctor Popular(artist and yo-yo champ), Irina Slutsky (reporter for Geek Entertainment TV), Tantek Celik(http://www.microformats.org), and Kevin Rose(co-founder of Digg.com), again.

In addition I met a lot of new people! I met Shelley Rae O’Conner(Shelley’s Place - A Place for Entrepreneurs, Creative Geniuses and others of Brilliant Mind!) and Info Diva(Independent Solo Renegade Information Pro)! Both were fun amazing women! They introduced me to Anna Billstrom(blog - Adventures in Email Marketing). I also met Lenore Edman(Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories). Lenore and I were dressed very similarly! Both of us were wearing dresses, mary jane heels and pearls! I also met Geri and Carl. She works for Adobe I believe. She had the most amazing necklace! Most importantly I met a kindred spirit - Trixie! We both love libraries and vintage! (Actually libraries were a repeating theme in my night) Loved her and her husband John’s style! (I know why now after I looked at their website-Maskharat.org!)

Lastly, I met Violet Blue! I’ve seen Violet’s name and face quite a few times over the internet this last year, so it was really fun to meet her in real life. She’s San Francisco’s real life Sex in the City Carrie Bradshaw,an author, blogger (http://www.tinynibbles.com/), and she was as sweet as can be.

We had a musical surprise mid-party! Two DJ’s had spun the night away, but then The Mark Growden Trio walked through the crowd with their instruments, set up, the crowd circled around and were swept up in their bluesy folky sultry sounds. Mark himself played several instruments as well as sings.

Quite a magical night overall!

For more magical pics of the night please see my flickr photostream here.

Did you read this far? Then please comment!

Another nice blog on the event -with a video of The Mark Growden Trio here!

November 22, 2008 - This was the biggest best free show yet! YouTube held their YouTube Live event at Fort Mason Center in San Francisco, California. Angela Chamberlin and I arrived, parked and were scooped up by a shuttle bus and deposited in front of a circus atmosphere!

Performers performed and mingled above, below, inside trucks - you name it! The amazing thing about this was that these people were not only performers, they were YouTube users. Another fine example of Social Media working in an amazing way. Bringing product and users together to interact, and bring the users and product to life.

I don’t know if you have had the experience of meeting someone in real life that you met over the internet, or maybe someone you were a fan of. It is so fun and exciting to talk with that person in *real life*, to be able to hear their voice and see their expressions and experience them in all their dimensions! I had this experience most vividly at the BlogHer People’s Party I attended earlier this year. I went specifically to meet the women I had become friends with on the Social Media site Twitter.com. I’ll never forget it! The thing is - there were people all around me having that experience at YouTube Live!

As we walked around the venue we saw singers, beatboxers, acrobats, hula hoops, they even had the Guitar Hero World Tour set up in a tent where you could play Rock Band or Guitar Hero. Four artists were each painting a side of a giant wooden cube. Chad Vadar walked around and grumpily took pics with us. Skateboarders were skating. I can’t even begin to remember or explain all the things that were going on around me! There was truly something for everyone!

I saw Brad Wollack of Chelsea Lately fame, we also saw Hooman from Alice Radio, 97.3 and took a pic with him. While we were standing in line I ran into Mitu Khandaker, one of my social media friends. I was actually surprised with as packed as it was that I didn’t see more people that I knew?

Then, came the main event. Besides the talented performers and artists, the show had some big star power! Katy Perry, Will.i.am, MC Hammer, Akon, and Soulja Boy all performed. They even had the duo from Mythbusters there to perform an experiment! Once the show started it was non-stop! San Francisco Governor Gavin Newsom also stopped by to speak, accompanied by his wife, Jen Newsom -who was never introduced, they presented an award to Queen Rania. Queen Rania of Jordan accepted the Visionary Award at YouTube Live for breaking down sterotypes about the Islam and the Arab world by launching her own YouTube channel in March and posting videos and answering questions from viewers, keeping an open dialogue with them. Queen Rania accepted her award in a humorous way spoofing David Letterman’s top ten, titled Top Ten Reason’s why I launched my YouTube Channel.

There were two stages, the large main stage and the smaller stage. I was lucky to get quite a few great shots at the small stage! If you weren’t near the main stage there were 3 giant big screens that the show was projected onto where you could watch all the action. Viewers at home could watch the show streamed live on YouTube! And what a show it was as act after act poured out onto the stages! My favorite undiscovered act was Julia Nunes and the Ukulele Orchestra! Katy Perry was as adorable as ever, and I was thrilled to meet Jamie and Adam from Mythbusters!

Great event! I’m sooo glad I was able to get tickets! And they were FREE!

To see more pics from the event, please see my flickr photostream here.