Don't Fear the Tweetup

1. Tweetup
An organized or impromptu gathering of people that use Twitter. (A meet up of people that 'tweet' using Twitter.) from urbandictionary.com

Don't be afraid of Tweetups. It is just a way for people that use social media to actually socialize. This is a good thing. We can get out from behind our computer screens and cell phones and meet people face-to-face. Those of you that feel intimidated by social technology can flaunt your people social skills and learn something about the tech side in return.

I recently attended three tweetups.
Last Thursday was the Social Media Club of Chicago's B2B Social Media Tweetup. I didn't physically attend this event. A last minute client emergency prevented me from going to the tweetup but I was able to attend virtually via the webinar and the Twitter hashtag. This was a formal panel discussion on how to use social media in the B2B world followed by social interaction.

Wednesday's tweetup was in downtown Elgin at the Douglas Street Sports Bar. This was the first tweetup I organized. The Downtown Neighborhood Association promoted it with an email blast, Twitter and Facebook. 35 people enjoyed Speed Learning on Twitter, Facebook and blogging. We gave away three Swingline Red 747 staplers as raffle prizes. Watch the movie Office Space if this doesn't make sense. There will be more tweetups in Elgin, just follow @downtownelgin on Twitter to keep in the loop.

Friday's tweetup was in Schaumburg at John Barleycorn. This was organized by CHI Suburbs Tweetups. I met marketing people, PR people, software engineers, programmers, web developers, neighbors and more. This was just socializing, no formal presentations.

As you can see by the examples above, tweetups can take various forms. So the next time you see a Tweetup announced, don't be afraid, and remember it is an opportunity to network, socialize and maybe learn something new about social media.