Tweetups: where technology meets real life

Tweetups are a growing fad wherein technology meets real life, where people break free of their computers and meet in this “real world” before returning to their social media sites.

These modes of event-planning have spread beyond meeting the founders of social media groups and talking about a love of coffee in the White House bringing Facebook and Twitter followers to witness Korean President Lee Myung-bak’s arrival and NASA’s invitation to followers to meet members of the final space shuttle mission. Now PSU hosts its own Tweetups in an attempt to bridge the gap between students on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Flicker, Foursquare and campus.

Christian Aniciete, communication and events lead for the Tweetup, said that bringing people together has not only given current students an opportunity to meet one another but also allowed a community to be built for prospective students and parents to speak to people about the university. “I love Portland State. Partly because I had such a great time here…and [partly] because I have a passion for social media,” Aniciete said.

After graduating with a marketing and advertising degree two years ago, Aniciete decided to bring Tweetups to PSU in order to give back to the university. With the help of PSU Director of Marketing Julie Smith, the athletics department, University Market and the support of various local businesses, he’s brought music, ice cream floats, a photo booth, bingo, raffle prizes and cheerleaders to the Tweetup.

The problem with this is that it is not technology that brings people together in real life. The most common reason for students to attend events like these is pure happenstance. Students reported having just stumbled upon the Tweetup.

Some are more like Danielle Sanders, a freshman at PSU, who, while walking with a group of other freshmen, was attracted to the event. “I had no idea what this was for, but I like it,” she said. But she seemed to misunderstand what the event was all about. “I think it’s for the football team, right?”

The event, it seems, is less about social media’s interaction with the real world and more about the real world’s interaction with social media.

Aniciete said that since June 2009, PSU’s Facebook fans have increased from 3,000 to almost 10,000. Their first Tweetup drew in 200 students, and estimates for attendance this year reached 600. However, it would be a mistake to say that it is due to technology that these people were brought together. An increase in fans is due an increasing resource independent of the event. An increase in participation in the Tweetup is due to a greater flow of students through the Urban Center Plaza.

In this way, the event may have failed to bring technology out of the two-dimensional realm, but bringing students together that wouldn’t ordinarily have interacted makes the Tweetup a success. When you’re mobbed with questions like, “Were you born outside the U.S.? Are you a business major? I almost have a blackout!” from freshmen students trying to complete their bingo card and students now getting their Ph.D.s, it’s easy to call it a success.

People remarked on their surprise at the number of people that showed up on a gloomy day like that of the Tweetup, especially during the second week of classes when even the library is packed. But thanks to the Tweetup, so is the Urban Center Plaza. Aniciete’s goal was to have something that “goes beyond conversation.”

The Tweetup seemed to have accomplished this goal.