Any tweeples sample the musical twelights at #LDNTwestival last night?

I never in a million years thought I would be using Twitter lingo. We're big proponents of the service itself here @TonicMusic - fantastic for common-interest knowledge exchange, news, music discovery, gig-flashes and, of course, procrastination (a favourite recent trend is #calmmovielines) - but I was certain I'd never ever be using terms like tweeple, twitterati, twollows, tweetups etc, etc...

[Sarah: You don't really use all those words, do you?
Nisha: No...]

Sometimes, though, it's necessary. And appreciated. And even helpful.

Thursday 25 March, 2010 saw thousands of twitter users (and a few non-) in cities around the world come together in real world physical locations to raise money for Concern Worldwide, a global charity aiming to bring education to the world's poorest children.

Nearly 7,000 people across 25 countries took part in events combining music and Twitter to raise in excess of £200,000 for the cause under the Twestival umbrella, with London's own Twestival attracting 545 attendees.

It wasn't a bunch of people tapping away at their phones, eyes down, in silence - but a buzzing social event with things like Karaoke, mask-making, a raffle, drinks and bar chat (much like a non-Twitter charity event), free cupcakes, smoothies and food from Chilango's running alongside a sonos-driven crowd-sourced playlist and some live music.

Aside from the compere in the spurs shirt (only the spurs shirt was a problem, not the compering), it was a fun event and a great example of how social media-sourced folks can support worthy causes other than Raging against Simon Cowell (which was still worthy, just in a different way).

The usual ticket sales, raffle, drinks purchases, donation buckets were complemented by Twestival.fm, a music site set up in conjunction with audio platform, Soundcloud. The site is powered entirely by artists and bands active on Twitter, including Metric, Moby, We Are Scientists, who donated tracks for streaming or download. No charge - just a request for a small donation and a tweet from users who find music they like. It hasn't raised much money so far...but it's still up there if you'd like to donate.

I left the office talking about twerds (twitter-nerds) and tweeks (twitter-geeks), went to a Twestival (twitter-festival) where I chatted to tweeples (twitter-people) and then came in this morning to a #followfriday about twirlies (twitter-girlies).

When in Twome...

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