Friday night, my spine tingled as I was rushed past hundreds of giddy nerds lined up outside the Empire Hotel for The Webutante Ball. I was in!

The amount of buzz suggested it could go down in aughties annals with bacchanals like Motherfucker and Misshapes. Pay attention so you can lie and say you were there,experiencing an exquisite send-up of Facebook culture.

Scene-making couple Richard Blakeley (of Gawker) and Jessica Amason set the stage with all the trappings of a suburban prom: photo booth, cheap decorations, champagne flutes. Blakeley, his hair cut frat-boy short, was wearing a slim-fit silver suit with aqua-blue socks and tie—matching Amason’s crinoline prom dress.

The two played the role of the prom-committee kids in high school to the hilt. Gesturing toward the capacity crowd with her glove-covered hand, Amason chirped, “Everyone made fun of it, but they’re here.” They even whispered about the rudeness of queen nominee, Julia Allison. Amason griped, “She emailed me that she wouldn’t come if she didn’t win. How annoying!” Blakeley tutted in agreement. As if on cue, Allison appeared in a pink ’50s prom dress.

Then there was an obviously scripted moment when Blakeley and ginger blogger Nick Douglas noticed they were wearing exactly the same outfit. Recreating the petty social hierarchies of a suburban high school for dramatic effect—genius!

Not everyone was so method about the farce. Allison, wearing a rhinestone tiara, bickered with a fellow nominee over whose dress was cheaper. As for the tiara, the brunette explained, “I crowned myself in case no one else did.” Her doubts were well founded; the winners were two young upstarts from CollegeHumor.com, Amir Blumenfeld and Sarah Schneider, who had the competition “rigged” by massive voting from their site’s popular readership.

“It’s really is like a prom,” one nominee said sadly. “The rich football players won with their billions of page views.”You see, it was all kind of serious after all.