A Twestivas For the Rest of Us – Honolulu Twestival 2009

OK pop quiz hot shot! A Twestival is A) some geek type event where people bring their Macs to bars, B) a festival with a ‘Tw’ instead of an “F” C) a worldwide event that included over two hundred cities partying in order to raise money to supply clean drinking water to people in need or D) all of the above. Like most cliche’ multiple choice questions the answer is ‘D’ which incorporates all of the above. A+ kid!

Logo by Valdezign

On February 12th, 2009 over two hundred cities hosted a Twestival in order to raise money and awareness for Charity Water, an organization that provides clean drinking water to people across the globe. Wether it was in a restaurant, bar, nightclub, or backyard, Twestival parties were organized across the globe. Similar to the event Live Earth, the event showed the amazing capacity to unite people across the World for a good cause. At the time of this post, over $250,000 in total was raised in a single night. To put that in a more comprehensive statement, the money raised (so far) can bring clean drinking water to almost 20,000 people! I will update this post with the final tally as soon as it is published.
Of course in the beginning there were skeptics, “I’m not going to some Twitter party!” For some it was difficult to get passed the notion that this event was being planned by people using Twitter. What folks didn’t realize is that the Twestival exemplified the future of global movements and change. The speed and efficiency of technology was now being paired up with the compassion of people and a cause. It was planned and executed on a similar premise that Barack Obama’s successful campaign for Presidency was founded on. A powerful idea was established and then shared with the social media evangelists and their mega-phones. This immense mob of Tweeple (Twitter People) then spread this message around the world in a record time (the whole process was put together in less than a month). City after city began jumping on the cause and the Twestival became an epic buzzworthy event. Honolulu claimed bragging rights of over 250 attendees, and over $7,000 raised! Not bad for a tiny island in the middle of the Pacific.

Big cheers, mahalo’s, and thank you’s to all of the Honolulu Twestival (hitwestival) sponsors and organizers that you can find here. It took the contributions of local people, companies, hotels, restaurants, and Hawaii media to pull off the big night. Their collaboration created a chain reaction that lead to a strong return of two hectic weeks of work. Their amazing generosity and effort can also be reflected in the statistical presentation seen below. Cheers to Olaf Witkowski for putting it together. 

The success of the first Twestival was only the beginning. Be sure to follow @twestival on Twitter, or check out the website to hear about future events and promotions. Remember if you don’t celebrate Christmas or Hanukkah, there will always be a Twestivas for the rest of us! I’m stoked.