Everyone, it seemed, was friending everyone; Glenn Beck was even snapping fan pics of Michelle Obama and chatting up liberal internet publisher Arianna Huffington (see selected Time 100 tweets below).

Some on stage, where the founders of Twitter were honored, limited their remarks to 140 characters.

And, like the hot microblogging startup, the event was one of the few remaining bubbles where the world's economic problems could be forgotten: The champagne and food reportedly flowed freely.

Not that everyone appreciated the insulation. Page Six's Paula Froelich was as disgruntled at having to attend the event as she was thrilled getting out of last night's Met Costume Ball. Ann Coulter had trouble finding a safe table, according to some whispers overheard by Glynnis MacNicol. And Time's James Poniewozik, stuck in the cheap seats at his own event, brought word that host Jimmy Fallon was scared by visions of a drunken full complement of View ladies.

(UPDATE: Froelich emails to set the record straight, "LOVED the Time 100 — was a heck of a lot of fun - was just annoyed about having to deal with subway in black tie and changing shoes/putting on makeup on the D train due to security for M.O. (I'm not dumb - i remember the inauguration fracas, you couldnt take a cab within 50 blocks of the Pbamas!).")

:

Some Twitter selections:

Pictures were taken, on and off the red carpet:

Michelle Obama was, naturally, sleeveless, and Stella McCartney requested she stay that way, forever, for the good of fashion. (Getty Images)

M.I.A. was sporting purple lipstick and a denim-y jacket. Glynnis MacNicol caught a shot of the singer mingling.

Liv Tyler, Stella McCartney and Kate Hudson were mingling, A-list style. (Getty)

Oprah always mingles A-list-style, by definition. (MacNicol)

A.R. Rahman and Falu perform. (Celebrity photographer (in a way) Evan Williams)

MacNicol becomes meta-paparazzo.

UPDATE: Keith Kelly from the New York Post put together a cool chart of who sat where at host Time Inc's tables. Highlights:

Power table: Michelle Obama, Oprah Winfrey, and Time Inc. bigshots John Huey and Richard Stengel (Time editor).

Cool kids' table: Biz Stone of Twitter, hottie Obama speechwriter Jon Favreai, Saturday Night Live producer Lorne Michaels and model/designer Lauren Bush.

Geek table: Conservative pundit Ann Coulter, stats whiz Nate Silver, Ford CEO Alan Mullally and Time assistant managing editor Michael Duffy.

Last fall, Weckerle interviewed Wales to get advice on how flacks can use Wikipedia to buff their clients' images. Wales is separated from his wife, Christine; the last time he mixed Wikipedia editing with pleasure, things ended badly. Can you come up with a better caption? Suggest one in the comments, and it will become the post's new headline. Friday's winner: hopelessdeskmonkey, for "Robot CEO smuggles human wife into movie premiere"

(Photo by Craig Newmark)