Sync

By Shannon Sturgis Little Rock "tweeps" meet once a month in the River Market. + Enlarge

LITTLE ROCK — On a bitterly cold Thursday night in Little Rock, self-proclaimed "tweeps" trickle into a new River Market bar for a "tweetup."

Some of these Twitter friends and followers have met before, some have not. What cannot be denied is the growing attendance at this monthly gathering.

Name tags for those who have RSVP’d cover the front table. They have real-world names and Twitter handles.

The bar buzzes with conversation that grows loud enough to drown out the music overhead.

One of the organizers tells me, "I've been to every one of these tweetups, and tonight, I've seen a lot of people I don't know."

That organizer is Keith Crawford (Twitter name: @tsudo) who was one of the driving forces behind the first tweetup back in May. (These Twitter meet-ups are not exclusive to Arkansas. These meetings, where people who have met only online decide to have a face-to-face conversation, are a national phenomenon that had the tweetup name before arriving in Little Rock.)

The story behind the first tweetup starts with Ghidotti Communications owner Natalie Ghidotti (@ghidotti). She and Angel Galloway (@angelmg), who serves as communications director for the Arkansas Repertory Theatre, had created Twitter accounts about the same time last year.

"We were both about to hit 400 followers, and I said, 'When we do, we'll have to have a happy hour meeting with all our tweeps. One of us will have to buy the other a drink, depending on who hit it first," Ghidotti recalls.

(Galloway won the bet.)

"We started calling it a tweetup because we realized that's what they're actually called. We had the first one at Sticky Fingerz, and it just blew up from there," Ghidotti added.

Crawford, a network engineer and "network evangelist," helped to create the official Little Rock Tweetup Web site at lrtweetup.com and a Twitter account (@LRTweetup) to follow information about the meetings.

The organization grew after the success of the first meeting.

"We had about 25 or 30 at our very first tweetup. It was so much fun, and everyone walked away going, 'We're kind of on to something here.'"

Though the first tweetup might have taken the staff at Sticky Fingerz by surprise, the subsequent meetings have been more structured.

The group's contacts within the community caught on to the idea and offered to host. The second was held at Capital Bar and Grill and even featured special drinks.

Meetings organically grew into different venues, Crawford said, and the specially made drinks continued — usually themed to match the Twitter color scheme.

"Each venue did some sort of concoction for us. We had three blue drinks in a row," Crawford said.

After a few successful restaurant-bar meetings, the group decided to pool their resources for a more altruistic purpose. In September, they took part in a nationwide Twestival event and partnered with the Clinton Library to collect books and donations for local organization Reach Out and Read Arkansas.

Admission to the tweetup that night was $10 and one book appropriate for children under age 5. The books would be given to pediatricians to donate to parents in an effort to encourage them to read to their children.

"We all fell in love with their mission," he said. "We called it 140 Characters for Literacy and thought it was a really good fit for who we were and what we were doing."

The group raised a little over $1,000 and collected 500 books for the organization. Though Crawford admits he hoped for a bigger turnout, the social media savvy tweeps have donated more than just money and books to the charity.

"We established Facebook and Twitter accounts on their behalf and help them publish content online."

Many of those in the tweetup group have done the same for other nonprofits in the area.

"We help them understand social media and Twitter and Facebook and essentially become free consultants for them."

They now strive to hold one charitable event every quarter. The last was at I.O. Metro in west Little Rock to benefit Our House in December. The tweeps saw the store's new showroom and the owner agreed to donate 20 percent of a week's sales to the nonprofit shelter that serves the area's homeless population.

The event was a success and also allowed the tweetup group to vary things up a bit.

"We had several events that were kind of more upscale joints, and we don't want people to think we're an uppity organization. We're trying to do mixed venues, regular-guy bars and nice restaurants."

In addition to external group functions and boosting the online presence of nonprofits, the local Twitter community strives to help newbies understand the ins and outs of Tweeting and its somewhat steep learning curve.

"It's a totally different feel and a totally different community than Facebook," Ghidotti said. "You can follow anyone and anyone can follow you. I keep Facebook to people I know, but Twitter is different and it's a broad community."

Through posting her Twitter-related questions, Ghidotti said she became more comfortable with its language and started making connections with new people in the area.

"I didn't know Keith [Crawford] at all and he was answering my questions," she said. "People are just so helpful and want to share their knowledge and that's where I learned all the basics of it. There's so many people out there who are ready and willing to make it easy for you and bring you into the community."

Twitter terms

For those just getting started in Twitter, here's the quick and dirty rundown. You have 140 characters to make your statement to the world. You can follow anyone and they can follow you (unless you're "blocked.") If you post a message, all of your followers will see it. If you reply to someone's Tweet, their followers and yours can see it. Unlike Facebook, privacy concerns are not really an issue. You don't post photos or videos of your family, but you can certainly link to them if you so desire. Or post them in a "twitpic." The point of Twitter is to connect with others that share your interests and spread information, but the short character limit has necessitated the need for a shorthand that can be difficult to decipher. Here are a few terms you might encounter and what they mean.

@: This symbol is used to reply to another person's Tweet. Example: @syncweekly Thanks for the update.

RT: Shorthand for "ReTweet," this is used to signal that the message you're posting is a repost of someone else's Tweet. Retweets help to spread a message farther than your own followers. Example: RT @alextcone Gov. Mike Beebe and about 15 people from his office are at US Pizza — Hillcrest.

DM: Meaning "direct message," this sends a private message to one tweep. You must be following each other to use this feature, and you still only get 140 characters.

hashtag (#): A way to organize topics on Twitter and find those who share your interests. Any hashtag that becomes widespread is known as a "trending topic." Twitter users can search for a hashtag like #Haiti and see all Tweets on that topic in real time. Organizations can also use hashtags to keep up with topics of their choice. For example, if you'd like to submit a movie review to Sync to be published, use the #syncfilm hashtag at the end of a Twitter post, and we'll be sure to see it, even if we're not following each other.

Tweetdeck: An application that helps tweeps keep track of messages from friends and followers, mentions, direct messages and any hashtags they might be following. It's a free download and will make your Twitter life much easier.

Tweeps to follow

One of the most difficult parts about getting started on Twitter is figuring out who to follow. The easiest way is to look at who others are following and do the same. Natalie Ghidotti has suggested a few local tweeps that might be worth an add to your list. (Follower count as of Feb. 12)

@syncweekly — Weekly magazine. Has 470 followers. Example Tweet: Uncorked Wine Tasting and Cooking Workshop this Friday has 3 spots left register here http://tiny.cc/Tf2l4 A sweet treat every time!

@pstrack — Local specialist in targeted marketing. Has 480 followers. Example Tweet: Shopping for V-day cards. I fail to see the humor or romance in all the "fart" themed cards this year. It really stinks.

@kyranp — Local mom and wife. Well-versed in sarcasm. Has 961 followers. Example Tweet: If "He/she said a bad word!" is news, my kids are now ace reporters.

@KatieMcManners — In marketing for Museum of Discovery. Has 725 followers. Example Tweet: I will not stay up late again on the twitters. I will not stay up late again on the twitters. I will not stay up late again...zzzz.

@bryanjones — Leads CJRW’s interactive team and father of three. Has 916 followers. Example Tweet: Wanna guestlist to the (Open Bar) Social Media War Party Mar14?! @sxswParties RVSP w/a RT - http://bit.ly/buster10

@kerrijack — Public relations professional and mother. Has 668 followers. Example Tweet: Me: Why would they print out this presentation? Girl next to me: Because we're going green.

@amybhole — Local mom, blogger and possibly the queen of Twitter conversation. Has 1,814 followers. Example Tweet: Grow your followers, your home-based business, your penis size!!! I'm sick of it. I want a spammer who'll sell me some shrinkage.

@lt — Internet editor for Arkansas Business. Has 1,266 followers. Example Tweet: Oaklawn: $5 million Apple Blossom Invitational back on for April 9. Developing ...