Editing First Friday (public event) (section)

==Social networking==
Some First Fridays promote arts and culture combined with social networking, like [https://web.archive.org/web/20161202204046/http://www.typfirstfridays.com/ First Fridays] in [[Tucson, AZ]]. Other smaller-scale First Fridays serve as social gatherings for groups of friends or people new to an area and may involve no art.

They may also include the large First Friday events such as those in Phoenix, Arizona, attracting up to 20,000 attendees to hundreds of spaces.

Various cities areas have First Fridays centered on politically conservative networking.  The pioneer of these events<ref>{{cite news|last=Zak|first=Dan|title=Off the clock and it's still party time on Capitol Hill with dueling happy hours|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/off-the-clock-and-its-still-party-time-on-capitol-hill-with-dueling-happy-hours/2011/06/03/AGkg4lJH_story.html|access-date=May 31, 2014|newspaper=[[Washington Post]]|date=Jun 5, 2011|agency=Washington Post|location=[[Washington, DC]]}}</ref> began in [[Washington, D.C.]],<ref>{{cite web |title = It's First Friday |url = http://www.itsfirstfriday.com}}</ref> but similar events have found success in Virginia, Nevada,<ref>{{cite web |title = First Friday Nevada |url = http://www.firstfridaynevada.com}}</ref> and Arizona.

In many cities, First Fridays events place an emphasis on [[African American]] [[social network|networking]] and business opportunities for [[African American]] professionals. First Friday is the top networking event for African American professionals and consistently attracts over 16,000 people each month across North America according to First Fridays United.

The First Fridays monthly events originated in 1987 as an outlet for African American professionals to mix, mingle and network.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Byrne|first=Dara|title=Public Discourse, Community Concerns, and Civic Engagement: Exploring Black Social Networking Traditions on BlackPlanet.com|journal=Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication|date=Dec 17, 2007|volume=13|issue=1|pages=319–320|doi=10.1111/j.1083-6101.2007.00398.x|doi-access=free}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last=Ross|first=Adam|title=Why is First Fridays the best African American event in Nashville?|url=http://www.nashvillescene.com/nashville/why-is-first-fridays-the-best-african-american-event-in-nashville/Content?oid=1188684|access-date=May 31, 2014|newspaper=Nashville Scene|date=Jul 17, 2003|agency=Nashville Scene|location=[[Nashville, Tennessee]]}}</ref>  During the 1980s it was common for an individual to be the only black professional working in their company.  First Fridays [[happy hours]] become a way for these professionals to meet in a social atmosphere while exchanging useful information.  The concept spread rapidly and First Fridays chapters now operate in 39 cities across North America and seven countries worldwide, including [[Austin, Texas|Austin]], [[Binghamton, New York|Binghamton]], [[Birmingham, Alabama|Birmingham]], [[Boston, Massachusetts|Boston]], [[Charlotte, North Carolina|Charlotte]], [[Charleston, South Carolina|Charleston]], [[Chicago, Illinois|Chicago]], [[Cincinnati, Ohio|Cincinnati]], [[Cleveland, Ohio|Cleveland]], [[Detroit, Michigan|Detroit]], [[Fort Myers, Florida|Fort Myers]], [[Fort Lauderdale, Florida|Fort Lauderdale]], [[Hattiesburg, Mississippi|Hattiesburg]], [[Hartford, Connecticut|Hartford]], [[Hong Kong]], [[Houston, Texas|Houston]], [[Indianapolis, Indiana|Indianapolis]], [[Jackson, Mississippi|Jackson]], [[Kansas City, Missouri|Kansas City]], [[Kingston, Jamaica|Kingston]], [[Las Vegas, Nevada|Las Vegas]], [[Los Angeles, California|Los Angeles]], [[Long Beach, California|Long Beach]] [[London, England|London]], [[Louisville, Kentucky|Louisville]], [[Memphis, Tennessee|Memphis]], [[Miami, Florida|Miami]], [[Nashville, Tennessee|Nashville]], [[Nassau, Bahamas|Nassau]], [[New Orleans, Louisiana|New Orleans]], [[New York City, New York|New York]], [[Newark, New Jersey|Newark]], [[Oakland, California|Oakland]], [[Orlando, Florida|Orlando]], [[Philadelphia, Pennsylvania|Philadelphia]], Phoenix, [[Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania|Pittsburgh]], [[Raleigh, North Carolina|Raleigh]], [[Richmond, Virginia|Richmond]], [[Rio de Janeiro, Brazil|Rio de Janeiro]], [[Sacramento, California|Sacramento]], [[San Antonio, Texas|San Antonio]], [[San Diego, California|San Diego]], [[San Francisco, California|San Francisco]], [[St Louis, Missouri|St. Louis]], [[Normandy, France|Normandy]], [[Scranton, Pennsylvania|Scranton]], [[South Bend, Indiana|South Bend]], [[Syracuse, New York|Syracuse]], [[Tallahassee, Florida|Tallahassee]], [[Tokyo, Japan|Tokyo]], [[Toronto]], Washington, D.C., and since May 2016 also in Switzerland [https://www.biel-bienne.ch/fr/first-friday.html/1240 Biel/Bienne] <ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.firstfriday.ch|title=First Friday}}</ref>

In 2002, several First Fridays operators created First Fridays United, which is a company founded to organize the existing First Fridays chapters in 30 cities into one group to share information, resources and solicit corporate sponsors and advertisers. The organization sponsors a series of international events in addition to the monthly networking happy hours. Today, First Fridays reaches over 450,000 urban professionals through email, internet, and event marketing and has had numerous Fortune 1000 corporate clients.<ref>{{cite web |title=First Friday United: About Us |url=http://www.firstfridaysunited.com/aboutUs.php |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110203071224/http://firstfridaysunited.com/aboutUs.php |archive-date=February 3, 2011 |access-date=27 February 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=WHAT IS FIRST FRIDAYS UNITED? |url=http://www.experts123.com/q/what-is-first-fridays-united.html |access-date=17 January 2017 |website=www.experts123.com}}</ref> Chanin Walsh was one of the first to create a marketing plan for First Friday in Doylestown which turned the “art gallery model” into an all-merchant benefiting event.<ref>{{Cite web |title=About {{!}} Brown Dog Design Doylestown |url=https://browndogdesign.com/about |access-date=2022-12-02 |website=browndogdesign.com}}</ref>