Text 100 was kind enough to mention an event I did with them and Xerox in a recent blog post on "Tweetups". Check out the text below, written by Text 100 blogger Sean Audet, or click on the link above to open the original version in a new window.

Apr. 24, 2009— If you’re still uncomfortable like me using “Tweet” as a verb, I’ll bet that “Tweet Up” probably makes your skin crawl. (Seriously, enough. Tweet This and Twitter That…didn’t we learn from the embarrassment of putting “e” in front of everything in the late 90’s?) And yet, if you are lucky enough to pull off a successful Tweet Up, it probably means you have a hell of a following and some seriously devoted fans of your brand.

This came to mind today as I was talking to old friend and former tech PR colleague of mine Mike DiLorenzo, who now holds a plum of a job as Director of Communication for the National Hockey League. Mike’s been ramping the NHL’s social media presence and the relaunch of the NHL’s web site. Coinciding with start of the playoffs, Mike tapped his new found Twitter following (@umassdilo) to get diehard fans out to the first-ever “NHL Tweet Up” last week in New York City. Like most Tweet Ups, it was a casual event, plus the fans got to pose with the one and only Lord Stanley Cup.

And then a funny thing happened. Some of his followers in other cities felt left out of the New York event. Suddenly other NHL Tweet Ups started popping up organically around the country. One fan even put up a web site devoted to the movement. In the end, over 1200 fans had gathered across 23 cities in various events, most without any direct involvement from Mike except for a few 140-character messages of encouragement. Who says hockey is a dead sport? (Well, I did actually, but I admit I’m enjoying the Bruins playoff push, despite our overzealous local play-by-play guy.)

Considering he has 1500 Twitter followers, I’d say Mike had a pretty decent Followers-to-TweetUp Attendees (FTTA) ratio going. Here’s a few stories on his success. AdWeek called it “probably the most extensive Tweet Up to date.” Nice work DiLo. You’re a long ways away from the days we both wrote up high school track meet scores every night for the local daily paper.

OK fine, so the NHL is one thing. Those people are lunatics - they would gather in Times Square naked if Mike Tweeted (Past tense of Tweet. Sigh.) for them to do it. But does this type of following translate as well in the tech world? Well if you doubt this, you’ve apparently never been to an IBM user conference. Levels of rockstar-like devotion going on there.

Take Xerox for example. Text 100’s Erica Carnevale tells me they hosted a similar event a few weeks ago in Philly at AIIM On Demand, a key printing and content management tradeshow. Followers of the printing space may be a bit slower to embrace social media than, say, rabid NHL fans, but Xerox knew there were going to be people Tweeting (ugh) from the show because Text 100 was monitoring the Twitter chatter in the weeks prior. The team started by engaging with Toni McQuilken, an editor of Printing News, who is an active Twitterer in both her personal and professional life, and she agreed to co-host a morning Tweet Up before the keynote. Approximately 20 people showed up - an impressive number for this niche audience and a first time event. It amounted to an hour of informal networking, but people who were there seemed to really appreciate Xerox organizing it. Many Tweeted afterward that they were surprised so many people from the print industry were on Twitter and enjoyed the discussion about hot trends from the show at the Tweet Up. This is laying the groundwork for a bigger Tweet Up Xerox event for the Print 05 tradeshow in the fall, where they expect more global attendees as well.

It seems no matter if you have 15 or 1500 attendees, what’s important is that Tweet Ups bring the true devotees out of the woodwork. The people who attend have a serious stake either in your brand or your market in general. Cultivating that intense interest from these types of followers is what social media does best, and personal touch events like a Tweet Up can only nurture that interest and cause it to spread like wildfire.