Last night, I stepped into an alternative universe. It’s a parallel world that operates alongside ours, through phones and PCs, using Twitter. It has
its own megastars (none of whom you’ve ever heard of) and its own language and style. And what a style that is. Wigs are de rigueur. Photos are taken inside . If you don’t have a business card from Moo, well… backs are quicky turned. (Just kidding. Everyone’s far too friendly for that.) Twestival was a big event, but it still felt very intimate.  from TechCrunch UK and Imogen Heap were among the “tweeple” wandering around chatting to the masses. (Imogen was wearing a golden bird and two enormous microphones on her head.) I’ve never been to anything in the UK where the “stars” mingled so openly and freely with their fans. Twestival was a totally unique experience, unlike anything I’ve ever been to in London before. To call it “networking on steroids” doesn’t begin to cover it: here were a bunch of people who live to connect with others meeting some of their best online mates for the first time ever. So what was it all for Well, . Luke Beauchamp from charity:water spent the night gently encouraging people to drop a tenner or two in the direction of the raffle. But I spent most of the night chatting to e, founder of Mashable, who explained the significance of Twitter and the Twestival like this: Every major event is now tweeted before the mainstream press have even heard of it. We are now a part of the media ecosystem. Newspapers are rushing to catch up because this has all happened so fast.
Something very significant is happening here. We’re seeing a move away from traditional media publishing to user-generated content. Social media is putting the tools of publishing and distribution into the hands of everyone. That’s what Twitter is.