Twestival 2010: A Global Experiment

I’m new to the Nashville area, but I’ve been lucky enough to team up with some very talented locals to help out with Twestival this year. I’ve heard from these awesome new friends that there are a couple big questions about Twestival that are common around here. The main one is why should we support a foreign cause when there is so much work to do locally? The other is about the frequency of the Twestival (“Didn’t we just have one of those?”). I wanted to take a second to give my opinion on these issues.     

The idea of Twestival is by nature a global thing. It is realizing new media’s potential to unite groups of likeminded people to tackle bigger issues then we could tackle on our own. Twestival in September targeted local charities, picked by the city organizers. While I like this idea, I feel that it loses something when hundreds of cities are raising money and awareness for different causes. Communities are more than capable of arranging “tweet-ups” to address these local problems, and hopefully this global event can inspire them to do so. The point of Twestival global is for cities in every continent on the globe to exercise their creative ability and motivate their local communities to be represented in a global movement. This movement’s goal is to work on a worldwide problem and that is what’s happening this year on March 25^th for education.

To address the second issue I want to point out that even local online communities change very quickly. I promise the event this year will have some of the same faces, but plenty of new ones will be there to interact, network, and to simply satisfy curiosity. Welcome them with open arms, because the whole idea is to meet other people you would have never encountered otherwise.

It’s also important to remember that despite how quickly the rest of the world moves, the same problems are still there. Last year charity: water gave clean water to thousands with the money raised by Twestival (see the results here). Entire communities received a basic need which will help jump start them out of their situation. Despite all the good done, the checks signed, and the pats on the back given that night it solved approximately 0.0002% of the overall water crisis. We have to remember that Twestival is another grand experiment in sociology, and it is testing ways to mobilize the world to solve its larger problems. Bi-annually doesn’t seem like too much to test, tweak, and push the limits of this technology that brings people together in new and fascinating ways.

If you’re in the Nashville area I hope I can see you on the 25^th to support a great cause! Follow @twestivalnash for more details. If you’re not in the area find one near you or throw an event yourself!

 

 

 

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