In defense of the tweetup

This is a picture from a tweetup that I attended in Pittsburgh, PA.

Now's as good a time as any to jump into the FAQs:

--> What's a tweetup, Erica? It's an event where Twitter users meet in person.
--> Why would you want to do that? Because these people seemed cool.
--> Did you know the people you were meeting? No, I had never physically met them.
--> Did you know the person you drove with? Not in real life.
--> Were you afraid of getting murdered, lol? No.

Great! Let's move on.

I believe most people would agree that social media connects people. However, people's ideas of why we connect are more disparate. Often, the social media detractors act as though social media is a replacement for real-world contact; that instead of going outside or joining a book club, We of the Social huddle near our computers and imagine false connections because we can't do better.

The detractors have never been to a decent tweetup, I'd wager.

Social media is a tool for connecting people, not the connection itself. And thank heavens for that tool, because I've discovered a handful of people who understand me, laugh at my jokes, and are moderately interested in what I ate for lunch today.

I received quite a few cockeyed looks from people before I struck out for Pittsburgh, but the reasons never made much sense. No, I hadn't met the people I was to hang out with, but is that so different from sitting in your local bar? No, I wasn't worried about the trip-- I had much more questionable road trips in college, with people I had met, and no one ever batted an eye.

People fear it because it's not the traditional way of doing things... but I say that choosing friends based on proximity to your house is much odder than choosing them based on shared interest and conversational rapport.

I am seeing more and more people using social media as a method of organizing real world, physical events. It's a fantastic way to find people, plan things, share details, remind people, reserve a table, whatever. This is where social is heading... it became large and faceless, but is easing back into the personal, the face-to-face. You will see more of this. You will give me less cockeyed looks.

Thank heavens.

P.S. Pictured from left: Twitter users @gordonshumway, @texburgher, @lindstifa, @bcompton, @tony_d.