Taking a hike for the Twestival

Today is the big Twestival day where over 175 cities around the world will be hosting Twestivals which bring together Twitter communities for an evening of fun and to raise money and awareness for charity: water. I will be attending the Seattle Twestival at Spitfire Grill, in Belltown. I hope to see the Seattle Twitterati there. Please let me know how the Twestival goes in your city.

In case this is all so new that you are scratching your head and asking what’s a Twestival, here is the back story.

charity: water for Twestival from charity: water on Vimeo.

In addition to the Twestival, Lidija Davis wrote about another unique approach to fundraising for the charity on ReadWriteWeb. Paul Smith, a reporter for the Guardian in the UK is planning to travel as far as he can, based on the generosity of fellow tweeters. Living in Newcastle upon Tyne, UK, the furthest that he can go is just about to New Zealand.

There are five rules he needs to follow:

• He can only accept offers of travel and accommodation on Twitter from users who are following @twitchhiker - if none is offered, he'll be sleeping 'rough'
• He can't plan more than three days in advance
• He can only spend money on food and drink
• If he gets more than one offer, he can choose; if he only gets one he has to take it with 48 hours
• If he can't move on from a location in 48 hours, the challenge is over and he goes home.

Pretty interesting, don’t you think?

Meet the Twitchhiker.

The Twitchhiker will raise money for charity:water by getting sponsorships and donations.

The Twitchhiker’s journey starts March 1st. Let’s wish him well. How far do you think he will get? Do you think the generosity of the Twitter community can get him to New Zealand? And how much money do you think the Twitchhiker will raise?

Related articles by Zemanta

• A Journey of a Thousand Miles Begins with One Tweet (readwriteweb.com)
• Global Twestival-time (twingly.com)
• Donating To Twestival from Twitter (blogs.msdn.com)
• Give Water, Join Us Tomorrow! (twitter.com)