Twitterers aflutter in Dublin ahead of global charity festival

TWITTER SOUNDS like an insult to some but to others it has become a way of life. And thousands of its practitioners will gather in Dublin and almost 200 cities around the world next week for the first ever global “twestival”.

It is being organised by twitterers, the name for users of Twitter.com, a social networking site in which people post tweets (micro-blogs of 160 characters) and follow fellow twitterers they may never have met outside of the “twittersphere” (what everyone else calls the internet).

The difference between the twestival and a usual “tweet-up” (meet-up) is that this will raise money for charity, and is being dubbed by organisers as a “Twitter Live Aid”. The beneficiary is US-based organisation Charity: Water, which works to provide safe and clean drinking water for people in developing countries.

More than 100 twitterers have already registered for the Dublin twestival at a nightclub in Temple Bar, which will have DJs, a comedian and prizes. Live video streaming and twittering will connect the Dublin event with the other events being held across the world.

This will provide a chance for “tweeple” to meet “twiends” in person. However “twebies” (twitter newcomers) in particular are advised to follow “twittiquette”.

Twestival was started in London last year by the local twitter community which decided to expand it into a global event for 2009. Some 175 cities from Lagos to Lima and Seattle to Shanghai will hold festivals. The event is not being organised by staff at Twitter.com, but rather by its users.

There are over 3,000 Irish people on Twitter, according to a recent survey by Irishblogs.ie. Some well-known Irish people such as Father Ted creator Graham Linehan (twitter id: @glinner) are among the techies, mothers, marketers, business people and journalists who take part in the twittersphere.

A survey of some 150 Irish twitter users, carried out by Irish ifoods.tv entrepreneur Neil Harbison, revealed that most people used Twitter for a mixture of socialising and networking. Almost 10 per cent of people access Twitter from an iPhone.

The service received a boost in recent times as author Stephen Fry and BBC broadcaster Jonathan Ross (@wossy), both regular twitterers, discussed Twitter on Ross’s comeback television show. Recent converts to the technology include the Israeli government, which set up a Twitter account during the Gaza crisis to provide updates and conduct virtual news conferences.

For further information go to dublin.twestival.com or twitter @dubtwestival