This post is primarily aimed at the 200 or so folk who have bought tickets for the EdTwestival on February 12th.
If you don’t know what this is about there’s a quick summary here (main Twestival site). An even quicker summary is “Tweet. Meet. Give.”
Blonde is the badge sponsor for the EdTwestival event, and we thought that we should do something interesting and Twittery as part of our involvement.
So, what follows is a brief summary of our idea, a plea to everyone who’s going to help make it work, and a mini instruction manual.
The idea
We aim to use Twitter to track in real time the socialising and networking that happens on the night.
No doubt lots of people are planning to live Tweet from the event anyway. We just want to give that live Tweeting an extra dimension.
To do this we’ve set up a Twitter account called WeMet – http://twitter.com/wemet.
Fairly shortly after the writing of this post @wemet will become a follower of everyone who’s attending the EdTwestival event. That will allow each of you (them) to send direct messages to WeMet. Please don’t block this new follower.
On the night everyone will be issued with a badge that carries their Twitter name – e.g. @Phil_Adams.
As you work the rooms we’d like you to send a direct message to WeMet each time you talk to somebody. An example message would be like this…
D wemet @tom @dick @harry
This will tell us that you talked to Tom, Dick and Harry and when you did so.
And we can then visualise this data in interesting ways. For instance everyone who takes part in the experiment will be sent their own personal social graph of the evening after the event. We’re also looking at some live visualisation options but we’re not at the making promises stage at the time of writing.
If you have the time and inclination you can add more context to the direct message (within the constraint of a 140 character limit). For instance…
D wemet @Tom @Dick @Harry – talking drunken shite about memes.
This will give us extra options when we play with the data, but it’s optional. The engine for this idea is the raw data about who you met.
The plea
Please bring your mobile Tweeting device with you and please take the time to send a short direct message to WeMet at the beginning of each conversation. Given that we’re tracking this in real time it would be good if you could send a message every time you talk to someone, even if you have already spoken to them earlier in the evening.
Hopefully this makes sense and is clear. There are a million and one things we could do with the data, but we hope that keeping it as simple as possible will maximise the participation levels.
If you need clarification or have any suggestions, please leave a comment.
If you’re following this blog via RSS the idea is that the EdTwestival folk will be sending an alert to attendees directing them to this post. Please feel free to distribute the link, but please give the Twestival guys first crack at the whip. Thank you.
If you want to retweet this post just copy and paste the text below into your Twitter client of choice.
Live Twitter-tracking of EdTwestival – http://bit.ly/131aU
February 6th, 2009 at 8:36 pm
Good idea. Have you checked the mobile signal at the venue. Will there be Wifi there?
February 8th, 2009 at 10:25 pm
Hi, I’ve never tweeted from a mobile device. Any tips for getting up to speed? Can I do it by text? I don’t use the Internet on my mobile (exposing my lack of technological prowess here
)
Thanks a load
Mags
February 9th, 2009 at 9:27 am
David
Thanks for the comment. Ensuring a good wifi connection has been a main priority for the Twestival organisers. The idea is in their hands in that respect. As regards mobile signal, we’d taken that for granted in a central Edinburgh location. But now that you’ve asked the question (and sowed the seed of doubt
) I’ll ask the question too.
Cheers
Phil
February 9th, 2009 at 9:29 am
Mags
Thank you for the comment too. We were aware that not everyone would be a mobile Tweeter, but we’re confident that there will be a critical mass of people with the right kit to make it work.
What kind of mobile do you have? We can maybe make some suggestions if we know the make and model.
Phil
February 9th, 2009 at 2:07 pm
[...] Thanks to the overwhealming help and support, the Edinburgh Twestival has been mentioned in The Scotsman, BBC News, The Metro and thanks to Phil Adams at Blonde, EdTwestival even has it’s own bus adverts running around the city and are working on a live tracking system for the night of the event called @WeMet, which you can read about here. [...]
February 10th, 2009 at 7:33 pm
It’s a Sony Ericsson. K800i.. Thanks Phil!
February 11th, 2009 at 11:59 am
Can’t claim to be an expert on Tweeting from mobiles. However, I don’t have an iPhone either. I think the simplest way is via SMS. Twitter will allow you to update via SMS in the UK, but not to receive updates.
You need to verify your mobile number with Twitter first, which you can do under the Devices section when you change your settings. You’ll need to text a code to +44 7624 801423 to confirm your number. Thereafter you can post updates by texting them to the same number. To send a direct message to wemet tomorrow night, you’d text d wmet followed by the @names of the people you’re talking to.
NB Apparently the Twitter text number can be charged at international rates. You’d need to check your contract.
I also sometimes use a service called ping.fm from the mobile. It’s a bit more of a faff (technical term) than texting, but it allows you to update several social media accounts (e.g. Twitter plus Facebook) at once.
Hope this helps.
Phil
February 12th, 2009 at 6:03 pm
Thanks a load Phil!
February 13th, 2009 at 5:24 pm
[...] week ago we set out our stall to provide live tracking of EdTwestival socialising as it [...]
October 30th, 2009 at 3:00 pm
[...] week ago we set out our stall to provide live tracking of EdTwestival socialising as it [...]