Tuesday Tea Tweetup @ Goldfish Tea (Royal Oak)

Posted by Hubert | Filed under events, technology, trends

Twitter logo

Twitter users! I would like to cordially invite you to a Tweetup of unique proportion on Tuesday, February 10th on Goldfish Tea (117 4th Street, Royal Oak - just west of Main Street) starting around 7pm. We held the first one last week and we had over 10 people in attendance who came from all over Metro Detroit and as far as Ann Arbor. Michigan’s Twitter community is a diverse bunch and that was very clear based on the group we had. With occupations/interests covering a large spectrum, ranging from marketing managers to iPhone app developers to hip hop artists to tastemakers, the conversations were loose and interesting.

With that said, I am sure there’s a large group of folks reading this that are un-to-vaguely aware of what Twitter is, let alone a “Tweetup.” Let’s get you up to speed after the jump, shall we?

I am actually using Twitter while I write this and I got an indirect request to make this for the n00bs, which I happily oblige.

To start, “Twitter is a service for friends, family, and co–workers to communicate and stay connected through the exchange of quick, frequent messages. People write short updates, often called “tweets” of 140 characters or fewer. These messages are posted to your profile or your blog, sent to your followers, and are searchable on Twitter search.” (Twitter Support FAQ, http://help.twitter.com/forums/10711/entries/13920) Note this link to Twitter search, because this is a very valuable tool if you have any desire to use Twitter for more than a device to announce to the world when you are eating a dry turkey sandwich from Kroger. I will be talking about that more in a second.

Essentially, Twitter is a microblog. You are given 140 characters to make statements. Your statements can be seen by anyone that knows your Twitter profile URL or anyone that is “following” you on Twitter. You can “follow” other people that interest you and you will get a personal feed of tweets from all these individuals you have chosen to follow, along with your own tweets.

Now you may or may not understand the appeal to such an application, but there are some diehard Twitterers or Tweeters out there. Like I mentioned at the beginning of this post, this zeal for the application has spilled out in the real world in the form of Tweetups. Basically, Twitter users gather with other Twitter users and chat, all the while being able to tweet about what’s transpiring. Yep, that’s right - folks get together to use Twitter in a community setting. In my experience, the tweeting is kept to a minimum as many are more interested in talking face-to-face than cell to Blackberry, for instance.

You may be thinking, “Whoa, I’m not ready to jump into meeting a bunch of people from Twitter that I don’t know quite yet.  I still cannot understand how to really meet people through the thing.”  For those of you who are using Twitter, but feel sort of lost in all the noise and it’s definitely getting noisy on Twitter, here are a few suggestions on how to get started:

  • Completed fill out your Twitter profile, especially your bio. Do not waste your bio either. Concisely describe who you are and what you’re about. You can be creative, but remember, everything on Twitter is searchable, so if you want people to find you for a specific something - be clear about it!
  • Remember Twitter Search? Well, after you’ve pulled in all your friends from your address book and you want to add more, try using the search function to seek those that are speaking about the very information you care about on the internet. The coolest thing about the Twitter Search is that you can get an RSS feed of your search terms, so you can review the latest and greatest in your feed reader.
  • Other cool tools to seek out cool Tweeps are Twitter Grader and TwitterHolic. These sites actually can show you where you rank into the grand scheme of all things Twitter. There are new applications, sites and devices popping up every day that give you a different way to use Twitter, but these two are great to see the “Who’s Who” list. Trust me, it helps to know who is who. ;-)
  • And the greatest tip I can really give is for you to ENGAGE. If you see some interesting speak commencing, send an @reply to those that are doing the talking. The best feature of Twitter is the ongoing conversation, which is tracked by Twitter search. The more jaw-jacking you do, the more likely people are to follow you. I do not know the scientific reason for this, but Twitter Grader gave me a 98.0 rating so… hey, it’s the only way I know how I’ve done it. Luckily, the Michigan Twitter community is very vibrant and inclusive. At the last big Tweetup of the Detroit Twitter Network, we had over 80 people in attendance! It’s interesting to see so many people patching into new technology in a way that possibly could bring exciting changes to our region.
  • It is normal Twitter courtesy to follow those that follow you, but you do not need to just follow them just because of that.  Definitely give that person’s profile a once-over to see if they seem like someone you could see yourself corresponding.  I like to make sure that person has @replies before I begin to follow them.  I don’t do linear conversations.  I don’t like being talked at, so I don’t follow back.  You can use your own set of rules on how to handle it.

I hope you found this post to be informative. If you have any questions, feel free to leave them in the comments. Also, you can always attend the Tweetup this Tuesday and ask us in person! Interestingly enough, Twitter is not necessarily for those that want to hide behind a keyboard. A lot of Twitter users send tweets from their cells, Blackberries and PDAs, so if you’re

Related posts:

  1. Doing Good: Fat Tuesday Fundraiser for Patrick Anderson
  2. An Interview with Hubert!
  3. A Good Cause: Gilda’s Club Charity Tweetup
  4. 140 Characters Conference: Using the social web to do good
  5. Meetup + dogs = #dogup

Tags:

Permalink | February 9th, 2009

9 Responses to “Tuesday Tea Tweetup @ Goldfish Tea (Royal Oak)”

  1. Dominique Says:
    February 9th, 2009 at 9:46 am

    Well…darn…if I weren’t headed out of town this morning, I’d come on down to the Tweetup!

    Have a great time, and hopefully I’ll catch the next one.

    midwestguest on Twitter

  2. Brandon Says:
    February 9th, 2009 at 11:54 pm

    Finally visited Goldfish Tea. Love it! Very friendly, knowledgeable staff and a good place to study/ people watch. Thanks for the find, Hubert!

  3. Brandon Says:
    February 11th, 2009 at 12:18 pm

    Hey, Hubert, we need to hear how it went. I’ll try to get to one after this bar exam is over with. I know the owners were looking forward to having you guys in and appreciate the support.

  4. Hubert Says:
    February 11th, 2009 at 1:27 pm

    Hey Brandon, thanks for asking.

    The Tweetup was a success. We again had over 10 people that showed and we have come up with some ideas to how to add structure to the event to make it a bit more purposeful.

    With the type of crowd we’re drawing to these Tweetups, I think we can definitely make an impact in some form or fashion that will be positive for the greater social media community.

  5. Brandon Says:
    February 12th, 2009 at 1:57 pm

    Another great article to introduce someone to twitter:

    http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/12/technology/personaltech/12pogue.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1

  6. iPod Candy: Voices of Detroit Podcast | the urbane life Says:
    February 16th, 2009 at 1:38 pm

    [...] exposé on Milena, but I think Larry and Dave did a good job already.

  7. Chris the Detroit Photographer Says:
    February 16th, 2009 at 5:26 pm

    I love goldfish tea. I wish you guys would move it to another weekday. Like not Tuesday! ha
    Chris

  8. Stuff to Do: Music @ Goldfish Tea | the urbane life Says:
    June 5th, 2009 at 6:05 am

    [...] Chinese teas in a comfortable environment.

  9. katrus Says:
    March 24th, 2010 at 12:51 am

    Oh, so that’s what was going on at Goldfish Tea. :D

Leave a Reply