[1]Any modern average Facebooker boasts of at least 500-600 friends on the list and is proud to not know more than half of them. Comprising of random stalkers, friends by association, drunken louts you met at a party and high school friends you actually hate, getting a chance to meet them all in one place would be an invitation out of hell.
But the cripser, Gossip Girl version of the site, Twitter is set to do just that. They are organising a Twestival in several cities across the world where you could go and meet @Idontcareaboutyou and sip tea with @itchwhenitscratches and stand for a cause, which could benefit from the meet. Delhi is one of the chosen cities in India and a fresh, local NGO Protsahan India Foundation is chosen to profit from the cause.
Stand-up comic and cartoonist Rajneesh Kapoor is all set to attend the 2011 Twestival, after participating in it last year. “In 2010 it was not done on a very big scale and about 90 people turned up to meet the person behind the Twitter handle they follow, which was still a modest number considering there was no publicity surrounding it. They even had an IT company to sponsor which donated a decent sum to the chosen NGO,” he tells us adding that the event is still in its initial stages and one still has to wait and see how things take shape.
Rahul Roushan, whose Website Faking News.com has turned the Indian Onion by his hourly updates on the micro-blogging site, says that many people who interact on Twitter don’t know each other personally so this could be a wonderful excuse to meet while supporting a cause. “Say, someone I follow but don’t know personally says he/she is attending Twestival, so even I could be tempted to attend it and meet him/her. This will ensure attendance is substantial and the attendance can be used to raise funds, which seems to be their idea,” he tells us.
While Sonal Kapoor, an enthusiastic 25-year-old who started Protsahan after dabbling with advertising, couldn’t be more ecstatic after being the chosen NGO for the Twestival. “For a big organisation a sum of `50,000 would seem less compared to other funds they receive. But to us it could mean new furniture for the school we run and more money to educate women about sexual health. And Twitter is a very tangible medium to support a cause. I have seen a celebrity retweet the requirement of a particular blood group and five/six people reaching the hospital to donate. That’s the power of social networking,” she says.
Mohak Prince, the Regional City Head for the festival this year, adds that this is way different from any CSR initiative. “Last time we didn’t have a venue till two days before the event since we wanted something pro-bono to help the cause fully. And sadly Delhi is still not open to such events. Though other cities levy tickets for the event, we don’t want people to think they are paying to meet someone which they could in any bar or pub as well,” he tells us.
Links:
[1] http://103.241.136.51/life4jpg-020