Twestival for Twitterers to meet and raise cash

Feb 12 2009 by Andrew Mernin, The Journal

USERS of one of the fastest social networking crazes on the planet will gather in the region tonight as part of an international money-raising event which will bring together 175 cities.

Followers of online messaging tool Twitter will meet in Newcastle as part of Twestival – a festival giving ‘‘Twitterers’’ the chance to meet each other face-to-face and to raise money to deliver safe drinking water to developing nations.

Twitter is a social networking and micro-blogging service that allows its users to send and read other users’ updates, otherwise known as tweets, which are text-based posts of up to 140 characters in length.

Tonight’s gathering at The Other Rooms will put Newcastle in the company of cities all over the world also hosting a Twestival, including Berlin, Madrid, Sydney and New York.