Triangle Tweetup tonight

I only signed up for Twitter (@abelpharmboy) on 21 January but have found it incredibly valuable for staying up to speed on blogs, MSM articles, local and national news, and science and medicine stories. I've already accumulated 284 "followers" which is about half of our daily blog visitors. I'd say that about 60% of those are not spammers.

Well tonight in the Bull City, there is an event called Triangle Tweetup, a meetup of local Twitter users at Bronto Nation Software (@bronto). I'm going as are a few bloggers our readers may know such as Bora Zivkovic and foodie, jewelry-maker, and artist, Lenore Ramm.

Perhaps most relevant to me, and readers of our Friday Fermentable feature, is that Fullsteam Brewery founder, Sean Wilson, and brewmaster Chris will be there pouring samples of their offerings. Latest word has them pouring their flagship beer, Carolina Common, and one of their local-ag beers, Sweet Potato Amber. This is absolutely tremendous for me as Fullsteam is still in the brewery-in-planning period and has yet to offer beer for sale or even secure a site for their brewery and pub. (Also just saw that Lone Rider Brewing Company will be there.).

But otherwise, I have absolutely no idea what a tweetup is for. I think it is social networking in meatspace. There will be 200+ people there and I recognize very, very few from the signup list. Will we have to speak to each other in sentences that comprise 140 characters or less?

Who are you people and why are you going?

I did at least find this on the sponsor page:

What type of people attends a Triangle Tweetup?
1. Geeks
2. Graphic/Web Designers
3. Marketing / PR professionals
4. CEOs/CTOs
5. Bloggers
6. Programmers
7. Journalist / Writers/ News Media / Reporters
8. Video/Photographers
9. Experienced mobile users (a lot of iPhone users, then blackberry devices)
10. Some of the who's who in the Triangle Social Media scene.
11. New twitter users

Social media guru, Wayne Sutton, also put together this list of 10 Things That May Surprise You At A Tweetup:

1. The person looks nothing like their avatar
2. You might find out that it's best you just have an online conversation only.
3. You find out that you're neighbors or live close near each other (true story)
4. You might find your next boyfriend or girlfriend (you'll be like they're hot in real life)
5. You found your new BFF & drinking buddy
6. You may find your next business partner
7. You may find your next client
8. You may find out that the person is nothing like they tweet online
9. You'll learn new ways to use twitter and new apps
10. You may have the time of your life and your online/offline relationship with your twitter friend will grow.

In all seriousness, the schedule notes there are supposed to be some heavies from SAS and IBM and folks from Icon Factory demonstrating the new version of Twitterific for the iPhone. I also just learned that the group will be collecting donations of goods and toiletries for a local homeless shelter.

Well, if you are there (and I know we have quite a few Triangle area readers), hunt me down and say hello. I actually sort of look like that George Aldridge sketch in the upper left sidebar. Also look for Bora: I'll be the one either holding up the train of his flowing robes or standing in front while incensing him in adoration.

And if your life has such little meaning that you are even interested in this from the remote corners of the world, you can follow the hashtag #triangletweetup or, if your life has even less meaning, follow us on live video.

I'll be the one with the chalice of Fullsteam Ale.