This paper uses a novel type of social network data to analyze the changes in the informal organization of New York’s Internet industry from 1996 to 2002, a six-year period that encompasses the phenomenal growth and subsequent rapid contraction of the industry. The data used are constructed from weekly reports of social events in a column of an online newsletter about the Internet industry. Over 8,000 participants in these social events are included in this data. This paper focuses on the data at the beginning of the industry (1996-June 1999) which is comprised of nearly 3,000 participants at 365 events. Using this data, I argue that the informal social ties created at social networking events— ranging from industry-related conferences to company “launch” parties to private gatherings—defined the boundaries of an amorphous industrial field comprised of different kinds of businesses, business models and industry sectors. Social events reporting is an underused source of rich network data that captures the best and widest net over a field actors, especially in industries that are rapidly changing.