So what do Wuyi Tea, real estate sales and an 81-year-old woman’s birthday celebration have to do with clean drinking water Basically nothing.
But for the people at Port City Pub on Thursday night, that’s what made Wilmington’s first-ever Twestival so cool. The event, which raised money to build wells in Africa, was organized through Twitter – an online social networking tool – and brought together people from disparate backgrounds, many of whom had never met face to face. “Word of mouse got us here tonight,” said Ty Downing, a 39-year-old Internet marketer from Wilmington, who used the tools of his profession to help organize the charity event. Wilmington was one of more than 180 cities worldwide which held a Twestival on Thursday night. In all, the events aimed to raise $1.5 million for charity: water – a nonprofit that builds wells in Africa. Bruce Brown, 62, of Leland said the goal was to raise money to build wells to help the one in six people, about 1.1 billion, who don’t have clean water.
But for many it also was a celebration of social networking, because the event showed how quickly people can organize for a good cause by using Twitter.