Tweet Up
Virtual life meets reality in the phenomena of the tweet-up
You are excused if you don’t know what the term ‘tweet-up’ means.
Only a small number of people would be able to explain what it is and an even smaller number would be able to say they have participated in one themselves.
However, these events are becoming very popular with Aucklanders who use social networking site Twitter.
A tweet-up is when a group of people who frequently use Twitter get together and mingle face to face, rather than from behind a screen.This phenomenon, which some may describe as odd, is becoming commonplace both here and overseas.The most recent Auckland tweet-up was held at The Falls Restaurant in Henderson last Friday.
Social media consultant and tweet-up organiser, Lewis Bostock, admits that to some it can seem strange for a group of people who communicate via a website to get together in person. But he says the focus of the events are on local businesses.“The tweet-ups are actually about supporting businesses that are on Twitter. On Twitter the businesses have to go to the community, but this is a way of bringing the community to the businesses.”
The Falls owner, Alan Parry, initially joined Twitter to find like-minded athletes in the area, but soon realised the social networking site could be good for business.
“You can’t start a Twitter account for the business if you’re not passionate about using the site a lot. You have to do it for yourself and enjoy it and that will help your business.”Parry believes hosting the tweet-up has been great for business.“I really wanted to showcase The Falls and get people out here so they knew we were here. Even the mentions on Twitter from people talking about the event will help significantly.”
The event attracted around 60 Twitter users. One of them, Courtney Sit, was attending her fifth tweet-up.“I find it really interesting to be able to put names to faces. It’s that whole virtual to real life aspect that I love about these events.”Bostock agrees: “It is great being able to get to know the person behind the screen name and get rid of the online/offline aspect. That whole thing shouldn’t exist anymore.”
Sit, who has been on Twitter for almost a year, says a great aspect of these events is being able to extend the conversation.“You are no longer limited by 140 characters.”
The tweet-up at The Falls was Matt Andree Wilten’s first social networking website event.“I wasn’t really sure what to expect but I came because of the amazing connections I had made and the friends from Twitter that I knew would be there,” he says. While the tweet-ups only take place once a month, they continue to get bigger and bigger with more people keen to meet new and interesting people from all over the city and visit places they may not have otherwise known about.
