L.A. Twestival: Social Media Party for Charity at Hollywood & Highland

By Derek Thomas Tue., Sep. 15 2009 at 8:00 AM

Categories: Last Night, Tech, iSociety

Josh "CuriousJosh" Reiss

GirlGamer's Mike Prasad throws up the hashtag

Turns out social-media geeks aren't so shy about socializing IRL.

L.A. Twestival, a charity event held Sunday night at Hollywood & Highland's Level 3 nightclub, brought together Twitter users for an in-real-life experience that shook out more like a cool-kids party than a geek meetup.

Are geeks the new cool kids?

@AVFlox: "Twitter has completely revolutionized my life. I will never again be stranded somewhere without a date when somebody doesn't show up. I will never again wonder where I should eat, or where I should take my cat if he should be deathly ill. It's amazing. I have a network of only 4,000 people but the reach is incredible. I've met so many people through Twitter that I would have never met otherwise. It's also amazing for dating. It's the best way to screen that was ever invented."

Josh "CuriousJosh" Reiss

Mashable's Ben Parr & Barb Dybwad

@TechFrog: "If somebody doesn't really know Twitter and just jumps in, they're not gonna get it. Until you're following a certain amount of people, it's just gonna be boring. There's a threshold you have to get to. It's like climbing the peak of a mountain. You're not gonna see the great view until you're there. It doesn't really take long to get there."

Josh "CuriousJosh" Reiss

Erin Darling interviews Dr. Hollywood for TechZulu

@TechBabe: "Twitter is what I do all day. I can't live without it. When Twitter's down and I get the damn fail whale, I go ballistic. It actually helps me through the day because I deal with a lot of idiots and crazy people, and it gives me a good break to vent. I don't ever say where it is that I work or who I'm actually venting about, but it's a good release. So I need it. Without it, I'd die."

Josh "CuriousJosh" Reiss

Blogger AV Flox with Mashable's Ben Parr

Twestival sprouted up in February 2009 as an online global fund-raising effort for clean-water project charity: Water. Twestivals then went local, around the world and benefiting charities specific to each city, with 200-plus cities in the mix. L.A. Twestival's charities of choice: Los Angeles Food Bank, who distribute food to the hungry, and Chrysalis, who help the homeless become self-sufficient.

Still don't get Twitter? Guess you're not gonna find out what L.A. Twestival hostess Fox 11's Suzanne Marques (@suzmarques) had for breakfast.

Dr. Hollywood live on stage at L.A. Twestival