Dot-com party

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This article is about a type of celebratory party. For the political party founded by Kim Dotcom, see Internet Party (New Zealand).
"Internet party" redirects here. For other uses, see Internet Party.

A dot-com party (often known as an Internet party or more generally, a launch party) is a social and business networking party hosted by an Internet-related business, typically for promotional purposes or to celebrate a corporate event such as a product launch, venture funding round, or corporate acquisition.

History

Dot-com parties became a notorious part of the culture of the American "dot-com" business era of 1997 to 2001, particularly in the San Francisco Bay Area.[1]

Dot-com parties, compared to "scenes from

Patty Beron (sfgirl.com) were well known for hosting and attending the events.[4] Other noted Internet partiers included Oliver Muoto and the founders of a public relations firm, Marino & Associates.[4] Guest appearances by Internet-meme celebrities such as Mahir were also popular.[4]

During the height of the era 15 to 20 such events took place per week in San Francisco alone.

Macworld, and COMDEX would have several parties per night, some open but mostly by invitation.[5] Various gossip blogs, newspaper columns, and websites such as DrinkExchange, WorkIt, sfgirl.com, Fucked Company
, and the A-List, regularly chronicled the exploits of the companies and their dot-com party guests.

Dixie Chicks. Its host, Pixelon, was a sham company that went bankrupt within less than a year.[3] The 2000 Webby Awards in San Francisco, although far less expensive or lavish, is sometimes[quantify] considered[by whom?] the "watershed".[1]

By late 2000 funding for parties had begun to dry up as corporate events became more frugal and private, less ostentatious, and more closely directed to achieving specific

business goals. During the final days of the dot-com bubble, company-hosted parties gave way to trade-show and industry mixers that typically cost $40,000 to $60,000 to host.[3] The subsequent crash of the venture finance-backed Internet industry in 2001 saw a lull in public celebrations,[2] although there were some nostalgic events in honor of the massive layoffs and demise of many companies such as sfgirl's "pink slip parties" and similar events in New York City, which also became a focus of corporate recruiters.[7][8]

Resurgence

In the late 2000s,

great recession, startups such as Airbnb began to host Internet office parties once again[citation needed], to celebrate office moves and product launches.[9]

Legacy

One innovation of early dot-com parties, email invite lists and online RSVP lists, continued and has become a key feature

online social networking services such as Facebook, and event promotion
services. Websites that list upcoming parties and events, sometimes in exchange for paid sponsorships, are now common in most cities and most industries worldwide.

Some websites such as Craigslist, and Ryze (an early predecessor of Friendster) that were started in order to organize or publicize dot-com parties, became major companies in their own right.

Commentary

Although companies often justified party throwing as a tool for branding, sales, marketing buzz, publicity, and recruitment, they rarely tracked the success or financial return from the money spent.[4] In reality, at a typical party most guests were uninvited and typically had no idea who the host was or what business they were in.[4] Many commentators criticized the events as wasteful displays of wealth, poor planning of inexperienced managers, or excuses for binge drinking.

Business historian Nancy Koehn noted that "Never before, not during the textile, transportation or steel booms, have companies spent so much money on people who don't work for them".[4] Salon.com, commenting on the excess, compared dot-com parties to more traditional corporate entertainment: "Wall Street never thought to invite half of Manhattan".[4]

References

  1. ^ a b Dan Fost (May 13, 2004). "Party's gone, but the Webby awards go on:Winners of best Internet sites receive e-mail notification". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved January 8, 2008.
  2. ^ a b Betsy Schiffma (November 29, 2000). "Party Scene Fizzles With The Internet". Forbes.
  3. ^ a b c P.J. HuffStutter (December 25, 2000). "Dot-Com Parties Dry Up". Los Angeles Times.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Damien Cave (April 25, 2000). "Dot-com party madness". Salon.com.
  5. ^ Leander Kahney (November 9, 2000). "On Crashing Parties at Comdex". Wired.
  6. ^ Chris Taylor (February 28, 2000). "On the Dotcom Beat". Time. Archived from the original on November 22, 2010.
  7. ^ Sam Whiting (March 7, 2001). "Think Pink Slip: Layoff parties to come to Silicon Valley". San Francisco Chronicle.
  8. ^ Stefanie Olson. "Dot-commers going from laid off to lounge lizard". CNET.
  9. ^ Miller, Claire Cain (August 21, 2011). "Silicon Valley, the Night Is Still Young". The New York Times.
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