For some tweeters, Saturday may be the first chance to meet some of those they’ve been tweeting at for months.
“Tweeters,” people who use the micro-blogging service called Twitter, will get together Saturday for Chattanooga’s first ChattUp, according to organizers.
“Basically, it’s just a way to use to technology to get people together,” said John Hawbaker, an organizer of the event and blogger with Chattarati.com.
Twitter bases itself around one simple question: asking users what they are doing “right now.” The service allows users to respond by cell-phone text message or from the computer, but messages can be no longer than 140 characters.
People and companies have used Twitter to transmit news, offer customer service and plan events.
Biz Stone, co-founder of the San Francisco-based Twitter Inc., described his product as “a kind of news wire that can be as broad as an earthquake just happened in China to what your friend is doing tonight.”
Jackson Alexander, a project manager at Chattanooga’s Coptix, said the number of tweeters in Chattanooga has grown significantly over the past six months. He and Mr. Hawbaker estimated there are about 300 area residents who tweet, and they hope some will show up Saturday to meet other Twitter users.
“There are a lot of people who are connected to it but not real-world connections,” said Mr. Alexander, who helped organize and publicize the ChattUp. “It’s being able to put names and faces and real people with the people whose updates you’ve seen.”
Strat Parrott, a graphic designer who operates the site findmeintown.com, said he helped organize the event as a way to get people away from their computer screens.
“It’s an excuse to get out there and meet people in ways that you can’t do in 140 characters,” he said.
In a phone interview Thursday, Mr. Stone said Twitter does not share figures on how many people use the service. He said he’s not sure how many meetings similar to ChattUp occur, but staff from the company has been to events in the United States, Japan and the Netherlands.
“They happen all over the world,” he said.
Andy began working at the Times Free Press in July 2008 as a general assignment reporter before focusing on Northwest Georgia and Georgia politics in May of 2009. Before coming to the Times Free Press, Andy worked for the Anniston Star, the Rome News Tribune and the Campus Carrier at Berry College, where he graduated with a communications degree in 2006. He is pursuing a master’s degree in business administration at the University of Tennessee ...
Or login with:
New Account