First Ever Tweetup in Fujairah Gets Off to a Festive Beginning

The first ever ‘tweetup’ in Fujairah took place on Thursday evening (16 February 2012) at the popular Curryhouse Restaurant.

What’s a Tweetup?

A ‘tweetup’ (probably originating from the words ‘Twitter meetup’) is an event where people who ‘tweet’ using Twitter (social media) come together in person.

Someone takes the initiative, comes up with a venue (preferably with food and drinks) and sends out a request to those on their Twitter network (and other social media), who may in turn retweet to those on their network. People can attend whether they are on Twitter or not.

Sometimes a Tweetup has lots of planning, other times it is a meeting called with absolute spontaneity.

Gathering of Nerds?

One cynic defined a Tweetup as “a gathering of nerds attempting social contact, likely for the first time. Usually disintegrates into everyone running to the nearest computer to type to one another.”

Ubiquitous

In the USA Tweetups are common and are hard to escape. They provide an opportunity to communicate face to face and use more than 140 characters. It may be for casual conversation, the rewarming of friendships, a networking opportunity or to enhance your career or business prospects. Sometimes people will exchange business cards or there will be a speaker to kick off discussion. The most important thing is to have an enjoyable time.

Fujairah First

Prolific tweeter, Paul Castle (pictured tweeting at the Fujairah Tweetup), decided to schedule a Tweetup in Dubai, to celebrate his birthday. He chose a regular Tweetup location (Aroos Damascus Restaurant) for his Dubai celebration and in his invitation it was a case of ‘No presents, just your presence.”

Dubai has been home to many Tweetups so at the last count there were 16 who said ‘Yes’ and a few who indicated ‘Maybe’. According to Paul, these Dubai gatherings can get up to 30-40.

As Paul and his wife, Karla, now live in the eastern emirate, he called a Birthday Tweetup in the heart of Fujairah. It was a small gathering but a historic beginning with conviviality and delicious food (see the egg appam pictured below).

As more Fujairah people get on Twitter the Tweetups in the eastern emirate are bound to become a regular feature.

Want to Organize a Tweetup?

Tweetups have become popular around the world and are used and promoted by such companies as Google, CISCO, Verizon, McDonald’s, Rockspace etc. Different tools have been created to schedule a successful event.

One of these is called ‘twtvite’ which helps organizers to schedule a Tweetup, post a map and gives the people invited the opportunity to indicate their response. Here’s an example of the twtvite.

See How it Works

Twtvite Intro from 63 Squares on Vimeo.

Geoff Pound

More Fujairah news, resources, information and photographs are posted on the Fujairah in Focus Facebook Page.