Twestival: A Twestivus for the rest of us

The world is changing fast and that holds true for fundraising as well. Gone are the days of waiting to be mailed the invitation to a once a year charity ball with silent auction. Now we see fundraising in connection with powerful social networking tools such as Facebook, blogs and Twitter. This past week Twitter users made their power known with record turnout around the globe for the Twestival.

For those that don’t know, Twitter is a powerful communication tool with the ability to unite, inform and mobilize users instantly. It’s a microblogging application with over two million active users. Create a user name and you are set to tell your life story in 140 character increments known as “tweets.” Users can “tweet” to each other using the @ symbol directly before a username and thus multiple conversations are started. These tweets cover a wide variety of topics including web use, making weekend plans and questions about kids. It’s an up to the minute stream about everyday life.

This begs the question, “what ranks as the most “tweeted” word on Twitter?” Thursday of this past week it was “Twestival” and with good reason. The Twestival took place in 175 cities with hundreds of thousands of Twitter users gathering not just for an evening of fun but getting involved in fundraising for Charity: water. Both awareness and money were raised for Charity: Water. Cities hosting the Twestival were encouraged to set a fundraising target and many cities exceeded the goal. Massive turnout for this event shows the true power of the internet and demonstrates how it is being used to do good in our world.

The featured charity for the recent Twestival, www.charitywater.org, spotlights a problem many are unaware of, that 1.1 billion people on our planet do not have reliable access to safe, clean drinking water. To put that into perspective, that’s one in six of us. Start looking around the room and one is six is an astonishing number. Charity: water has decided to take action. They are raising money and partnering with local organizations to drill wells that will provide clean drinking water in thirteen countries. As of January of 2009 Charity: water has funded 1247 projects serving over 650,000 people.

More information on upcoming Twestivals can be found at http://twestival.com/ or if you are a Twitter user by following @twestival.