Twestival inspires Twitter for a good cause

It seemed like half of Twitter was partying at the Twestival last night. A great cause that inspired people in almost 200 cities around the world to help charity: water. At home in Seattle, there were about 100 people who helped raise about $1100 for the cause. As part of the event, several people and sponsors donated some great prizes. One guy donated a date (dinner and a movie) with himself! Desperate or ballsy, what do you think? I even won a prize in the raffle, no, not the date, but a Home Depot gift card. I met a bunch of new Tweeters and even got to catch up with a few friends that I’ve only talked to online like Veronica Wei Sopher and Charl Pearce. Danielle Morrill streamed the event which was pretty cool. It was also great to see and hang out with friends Amanda Wolfman, Claus Loos, Eric Weaver and Eric Berto.

As mentioned, there were close to 200 Twestival events, so many Twitter friends checked in and shared stories about their events.

Boston

From the home in my heart, over 200 people celebrated Twestival at OM in Harvard Square. It was an awesome time and a fantastic turnout for a great cause. Rachel Levy took some amazing photos of the event. Below are Rachel, Pamela Rosenthal and Todd van Hoosear.

Montreal – From Adele McAlear

Montreal was one of the first 25 cities to sign on to host a Twestival and we're excited to see more than 175 cities participating in what has become a truly global event. The Twestival Montreal event is in both French and English, reflecting the bilingual nature of our city. This means that Tweeting, blogging and event blog badges are in both languages. Twestival Montreal, at the chic and modern Suco Lounge had over 200 people with two local DJs and a local radio personality MCing the event. Renowned concert photographer, Eva Blue, staffed the photobooth where, for a donation, party-goers had their picture taken with water-themed props as a souvenir of the evening. Twestival Montreal raised over $5000 for the event. But most of all, we're proud that through all of our efforts - sponsors, volunteers, supporters and party-goers - we are helping to save lives with clean water. And that is something to cheer about! The Grand prize winner for the trip to Vancovuer was Jean Aymeri (below right), who sadly became another victim of the economy and lost his job this morning.

Dallas – Lauren Vargas Reporting

Three weeks ago, I did a crazy thing, I signed up Dallas/Fort Worth to be a participating city in the global Twestival. Three weeks ago, I put out a call over Twitter asking for volunteers to help put on such a venture. Thirteen other crazy people I had never met before volunteered to make Dallas Twestival happen. In three weeks, over Twitter, email and numerous conference calls, we organized our first Twestival…not to be our last. Although, we will start planning at least 51 weeks in advance of Dallas Twestival 2010! Dallas’ event was at Mockingbird Station, where tweeters and non-tweeters, alike met to enjoy live music by local artists, take in a free film at Angelika Theater and eat good food and drink. The Dallas Twestival was 100% volunteer and donation driven. There was no overhead for the event. All proceeds benefited Charity:Water. Dallas’ goal was to raise $4,000, roughly the cost of drilling one water well in Central Africa. We met and exceeded goal to raise $4,302 and counting! Thank you to the brilliant people I worked with to make this event a reality, our generous sponsors in tough economic times and to the Dallas Twestival goers who came to the event.

Denver – Erika Napoletano Reporting

The Denver Twestival gathered over 200 Tweeps and non-Tweeps from the Denver and Boulder area at the Fox and Hound in Littleton, Colorado. Between online donations, a book sale and a kickass silent auction, current funds raised over $4000 We with to thank Chuck Blakeman, Ringmaster of Ceremonies for the evening and the generous donation of venue by the Fox and Hound for making the Denver event happen. Chuck and Erika are below.

An amazing event for an amazing charity! As Laura Fitton pointed out on Twitter, there were over 6,600 Twestival photos posted on Flickr. As you can see from the Twist report below, Twestival was rocking on Twitter this week. Here’s to Twestival!

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Twitter: love having the brands, but I don’t have to know the person behind the brand

A very provocative post on Mashable today in which Mark Drapeau shares his thoughts about brands on Twitter. Mark thinks that brands should not be on Twitter, but that people ‘hide’ behind organizational brands, obscuring their persona and therefore reducing authenticity and transparency. Yes, it’s a subject that has been discussed many times. I’ve written about brands on Twitter and best practices many times. And of course, there was the survey that Peter Sorgenfrei and I ran in which 240 Twitter users were asked to give their perceptions on brands. Once again, three key points:

Not surprisingly, most users (89%) agree that brands should engage their customers on Twitter.The majority also have a better impression of brands that use Twitter for customer service (81%).

Proper usage of Twitter however, is paramount as almost 90% of users would frown upon poor or inappropriate brand use of Twitter.

The power of a relationship is extremely strong on Twitter. 60% of respondents would recommend a company based on their presence on Twitter and 80% of Twitter users will reward those brands they have key relationships by being more willing to purchase from them.

And you can find over 50 brands using Twitter on a Social Media Marketing wiki that Peter Kim is curating.

Over 70 people have commented on Mashable today and the predominant opinion is that we like our brands on Twitter. Since Twitter is an opt-in community, I can choose to follow whoever or whatever brand I want. I was particularly impressed with Pete Blackshaw’s (author of Angry Customers tell 3000) comment, paraphrased here, Part of what’s drawn brands to Twitter has been the very enthusiastic reception of Twitterites (tens of thousands of them) who have been preaching company and brand “engagement” and “responsiveness” and “participation.” If anything, the Twitter crowd has flirted with righteousness in encouraging brands to participate.

Christine Perkett of Perkett PR says in her Mashable comment,

I think this is an interesting debate and - like anything - comes down to personal preference. That’s why I actually love Twitter - I can choose to follow, unfollow or even just save a certain brand’s “Tweet” that I want to remember.

Obviously as a marketer - and one of the brands on Twitter (in addition to the numerous clients that we’ve helped kick start on Twitter) - I am a fan of such. However, I think more specifically, I am a fan of brands doing it right. And by that I mean - engaging and being personable as you suggest. Not just using Twitter as an RSS feed. Not just blasting your own news/agenda. Combining industry insights with opinions and news and, when warranted, even humor. And, identifying who is behind the corporate handle.

Felix Leander of Burson-Marsteller, also gives a similar perspective on his excellent PR/ Social media blog.

Does anyone disagree that brands should be on Twitter, but there is certainly a right way on how to do it? How would you help a brand to understand Twitter and do it right?

Happy HalloTween

The Twitterverse has always been a spirited bunch, participating in holidays and contests. Halloween is no difference as you can see from the avatars below.

We do more than change our avatars, though. Courtesy of Sonny Gill (and others), I found some cool Halloween icons. Rob Key and his Converseon team have creatively crowdsourced a company Halloween costume contest by asking the Twitterverse to vote for the best costume. I voted for Catwoman, by the way.










Bryan Eisenberg and Mass High Tech All-Star Chris Brogan are organizing a meme, Trick or Tweet.

There are 2 goals for Trick or Tweet:

1. Connect lots of interesting people with other interesting people they didn’t know before.

2. Do some good with our Tricks (there is enough tricky things going on in our worlds).

A great way to connect people within the community, particularly new users and donate to some very worthy charities. So let's get scary and #trickortweet!

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