Twtvite Intro from Felipe on Vimeo.

Tweetups as they’re commonly called, are functions, meetings or parties attended by your Twitter friends and followers resulting from shared conversations, mutual interests and common motivations.

Tweetups take a great service like Twitter and turn it into something much bigger. You are able to gather with online friends, meet new contacts, have some drinks and maybe share a meal, making it easier to promote your business or further your career. It used to take a lot of of time, effort and planning to organize the actual event, but now with an app called Twtvite, it's become something you can do in your spare time.

The first step to organizing a successful tweetup is to decide on a purpose and theme. If you only want to meet some of your followers in the area, your tweetup will be a lot different than if you're trying to get a job or raise money for a cause.
Although Twtvite can be your main planning method, consider also using services like Eventbrite, Amiando or meetup.com to organize your guests, provide content and collect donations. It can only make the administrative work that much easier.

Use your Twitter network as a way to gather up support, help and ideas. The number of PR and marketing people on Twitter now is astounding. Use their collective wisdom and networks to create buzz and support for your event. Make sure you post your TweetUp to TweetUp on Twitter and use their hashtag #tweetup.

Choosing a location for the tweetup is a major factor as to the success of your Tweetup. The informal nature of online social networking makes it difficult to determine whether you'll have 5, 50 or 500 people attending. The number of expected guests will determine if you should choose a bar, restaurant, hall or something outdoors roomy enough to accommodate the people you expect to come and cheap enough to reserve.

Actually visit the physical setting. Take the time and effort to actually visit the bar, conference room, or park where the Tweetup will happen. I’ve never heard of anyone making a great business connection at a dark dive bar.

Plan for more people to show up than you think. It’s Twitter. These people do know how to spread the word better than anyone.

Provide food. If you schedule a Tweetup around a meal…provide food. If you DON’T plan on providing food, definitely inform your attendees. Sometimes at these events I think my stomach does more networking than my mouth.

Hand out name tags. Name tags are one of the coolest aspects of the tweetup. The name tags at these events are typically filled out with an @username -- the same way a reply is posted on Twitter. Wear the name tag with your @username, and then introduce yourself using your real name.

You may want to use a Twitterwall, or real-time, updated, animated list of everyone tweeting with your hashtag, like www.twitterfall.com, for all to see at the event. This may encourage people to tweet at the event, since their tweets will be highly visible – some may tweet just to knock someone off the top spot! It also enables people not physically there to participate.

Collect business cards. Event dependent; most folks will be card carrying members of the business/technology world and will be at the Tweetup to network. If you have an electronic scanner this is even better. You can send a list of attendees to your email list, providing additional value.

Encourage people to take photographs. These can be live-tweeted on the night using one of the Twitter photo services such as Twitpic. You could also set up a group pool on Flickr for people to post to. Ask them to tag their Flickr photos with the event hashtag so they can be found easily, and even be pulled into a widget on your website.

Live-stream or record your event. If it seems appropriate, take your media a stage further and consider live-streaming your event, or part of it, using a service such as www.ustream.tv. That way, people outside the room – even outside the country – can see what’s going on, tweet comments and questions, and feel involved. This is useful if, say, you have a large international Twitter following and you’re running a speaker event. And/or you might consider audio or video recording your speakers, and then podcasting it for the benefit of those unable to attend.

That's about all there is to it. The rest is just a party. Mingle and socialize, after all, isn't that what social media is all about anyway?

Written By: Tom Retterbush