If tweetups were a burrito, the South Florida social media scene would be bursting at the tortilla. This past week was crazy busy and the rest of the month isn't going to calm down.
Miami Herald Tweetup
On Thursday, the Miami Herald held its second tweetup at Crazy Pianos in Coconut Grove, with my twitter gal pals Lori Todd (@loritodd) and Mallory Colliflower (@mallcoli) at the door greeting guests. Niala Boodhoo (@nialaboodhoo), business reporter, got up on stage, gave away great prizes and introduced staff and contributors who were scattered about the venue. Unfortunately, the crowd was yapping too loudly to pay attention, which made Silicon Beach feel bad. How about a little tweetiquette, folks? If someone's throwing a party with free booze and food, shut up and give them five minutes of your time!
I only met one Herald reporter, so I'm not sure if they all hung out in a clique by themselves, which would defeat the purpose of a newspaper tweetup. The sheer volume of guests, however, was a blessing and a curse -- it's hard to work the entire crowd. But so far, the Herald has done a great job of bringing people together, and this tweetup was no exception. There were great free appetizers, including a delicious, refreshing ceviche served in spoons. Many of South Florida's most active twitterati were present and everybody had a good time.
We Visit Mexico Tweetup
Friday was a somber day, but there was a little brightness at sundown with a Mexico tourism promotion tweetup at the JW Marriott on Brickell. We Visit Mexico is a new social media effort on Twitter and Facebook to entice us gringos to visit our neighbors down south.
Web community manager Jeffrey Cohen (@jeffreycohen) greeted guests, many of whom were not sporting their Twitter names on their badges, which made me wonder if this was a real tweetup or just a very classy cocktail party. It was definitely the latter, with great appetizers and a tequila master class sponsored by Huizache, during which free samples of the agave-based liquor certainly warmed guests' hearts about the destination.
We learned that 200,000 margaritas are consumed in the US per hour, but surely the tourism board of Mexico would prefer we imbibe on their shores. Yours truly won a bottle of reposado (aged) tequila and is going to toast "Viva Mexico!" with friends in Miami, but will also hopefully be tossing back a few in Cancun very soon.
Twineup in Fort Lauderdale
As if two tweetups in a row weren't enough, on Saturday, I schlepped in a torrential downpour up I-95 to the Himmarshee Grille, a 13 year-old gem of a restaurant in historic downtown Fort Lauderdale. Matthew Horbund (@mmwine), South Florida's top twitter wine guy, hosted a tasting paired with some absolutely heavenly food; one highlight was a butternut squash appetizer that made me weak in the knees and tweet from my iPhone about foodgasms.
The usual Twitter suspects were present and there's no doubt this event will spur more conversation about wine and food on Twitter. Follow @mmwine to keep up with wine reviews and other wine enthusiasts online.
Upcoming Tweetups:
- September 16, Fuji Dragon Restaurant, Pompano Beach, 7 p.m.: Sushi Tweetup (@sushitweetup)
- September 17, John Martin's Irish Pub, Coral Gables, 9 p.m.: Laughup featuring local comedian Freddy Stebbins (@freddystebbins) visiting stand-up comic Jeff Zaret (@jeffzaret) and other local funny people.
- September 23, Fritz and Franz Bierhaus, Coral Gables, 7 p.m.: Beerup hosted by @miamime, @chad_cohen and @cristinabls.
- September 23, Panya Thai Restaurant, North Miami, 7 p.m.: Thai Tweetup. Follow @thaitweetup for more information.
- September 29, Bru's Room, Boynton Beach, 6 p.m.: Wings, Pings and Poken Tweetup. Follow @pokengirl for more information.
- October 2, KMP Furniture (6444 Biscayne Blvd., Miami), 6 p.m.: New Times Tweetup with open bar from 6 to 8 p.m for the first 100 people. Follow @miaminewtimes or @newtimesstreet for more information.
Did we miss a tweetup? Feel free to leave a comment or email Maria at beachbombshell [at] gmail [dot] com.