Ealing Tweetup - the biggest ever

It isn't often you get home from an infomal local social media event, exhale gently and take a while to relax... but then isn't every day you help run one of the UK's largest digial events and quite possibly the biggest Tweetup ever.

If you're not aware of what I'm referring to... on Thursday 1st September the Ealing Tweetup took place. This involved: two bands, 200 people, free drinks, senior London politicians and almost £1000 raised for the Ealing Mayor's fund to help those affected by the recent Ealing riots.

But don't just take my word for it, here's what Ealing Councillor Bassam Mahfouz said about it:

"A synonym for fantastic live music, great company and flowing drinks the Ealing TweetUp has become an event that draws the good, the bad and even the politicians together in the name of social networking. Addictive, welcoming and energetic every attendee left wanting more whilst others are joining twitter in their droves just so they can get an invite. With over 200 tweeters, we may have to move the #EalingTU to the Wembley Arena before long."

Twitter usage - how to be more professional

I've recently written an article giving some top tips for Twitter users. You can view the article here:
http://www.freshbusinessthinking.com/business_advice.php?AID=8590&Title=Top+Tips+On+Tweeting

Its quite surprising for me to see so many regular users of Twitter still doing some pretty basic or incorrect stuff and not making the most of their precious 140 characters. There's some obvious question to ask, for example:

• Why don't people shorten their URL's to make the most effective use of their posts (and to measure click throughs)
• Why are hashtags not used more regularly?
• Why aren't more posts repeated if they are important?
• Why do so many postings still have spelling mistakes in them?

Just because Twitter is an informal social media channel, it doesn't have to be used unprofessionally.

Tweet this!

We're currently investigating for a couple of clients the best way for a user to post a Tweet via a link or button on their website .

I've come to the conclusion that a simple 'Tweet This' button can do this by posting an automatically generated update via a user'sr Twitter account, removing the need for them to type the whole message.

What benefit can this provide?

Well, it could help promote news and updates on you site, by making it easier for users to tell their friends what they are reading or find interesting.

Click on the link below to see what I mean: