My First Twestival - Forming Relationships through Twitter

Last night, I attended my first "twestival." For those of you not familiar with the term, it means "Twitter festival" -- basically, a meetup consisting of users of the micro-blogging site Twitter. The Philadelphia Twestival is an annual event, and is one of more than one hundred twestivals occurring around the world.

What I liked about this event was that it was more than your standard meetup; it was a congregation of sincere, genuine people willing to support an important cause and help each other out. The event was fully organized by volunteers, and ticket proceeds (including admission, raffle, and Rock Band tickets) benefited charity:water. Many people bought extra tickets just to support the charity.

The majority of the people at the event either worked in social media or had a profound interest in social media. There were many independent consultants in the group too. I was pleased to find that most people were interested in collaborating or helping each other out, rather than promoting themselves or their businesses. The vibe was friendly and positive, and I made several new friends.

What surprised me the most was the fact that many of the attendees recognized each other. When my friend and I walked in, he pointed to someone and said "Hey, she got engaged a couple of months ago!" I asked if my friend knew her, and he said that he recognized her from her profile picture on Twitter. This was the case with many attendees. If you watched them interact, you would think they'd known each other for months or years -- which, in a sense, is true.

It's amazing what technologies like Twitter can do. The event reminded me of concepts mentioned in the book Here Comes Everybody -- people making connections through social technologies, and forming lasting relationships through these connections. Because of the open communication and comfort level that these technologies foster, people are empowered and feel a genuine need to "give back."