As well as the Thames Valley Social Media Cafe, social media types reading this may also be interested in Reading’s fortnightly gatherings of Twitter enthusiasts. The Reading “tweetup”, or #rdgtweetup, is a product of the recent Twestival held in the town.
For regular #rdgtweetup updates, visit this page. It appears that the next tweetup will be held this Saturday evening at Starbucks (The Oracle Riverside one, I think).
Friday 13th might be unlucky for some, but some also say that you create your own luck. As first announced by Neville Hobson, the first Thames Valley Social Media Cafe will be held at 10am on 13 March 2009 at the smashing Workhouse Coffee in Reading.
The idea emerged from conversations between Neville, Drew Benvie, Benjamin Ellis and myself, and was inspired by Lloyd Davis and his Social Media Cafe/”Tuttle” (now spread from London to cities such as Birmingham and Oxford).
The Tuttle concept is simple. As Lloyd puts it, the club is
a loose group of people who come together to talk and work around social media.
This is so right for Reading. The town and its environs is chock-full of digital talent. Workhouse Coffee, suggested by Drew (who originally alerted me to its existence and indeed to Twitter) feels right for the Social Media Cafe (offering first-class coffee, scrabble tiles for entertainment, a giant world map for inspiration and local newspapers).
For more information, and to register your interest, visit the Thames Valley Social Media Cafe wiki, set up by Benjamin.
The following other announcements have been posted recently:
Twitter me this, Twitter me that. Newspapers’ love affair continues. My non-geek friends now have a Twitter presence, and so has drinksinreading.com.
Drinksinreading.com, a website/social network offering user comments on Reading bars, is now automatically alerting Twitter followers to newly posted reviews (behaving much like RSS). Add drinksinreading here.
I’m told also that work has commenced on a new special offers section of the site, viewable by members only.
Meanwhile, I’ve asked for new venues to be added - Reading pub of the moment The Retreat, and The Hop Leaf. They’re two of my favourites.
On Thursday night, parties were staged simultaneously around the world in “175+ cities“, including London (of course), Jerusalem, D.C, Mumbai, Ankara and… Reading.
Ok, Reading isn’t a city (really, it isn’t), but the point is our town, the digital pearl of the Thames Valley, lay host for the first time to the geeky, global and highly-publicised Twitter extravaganza named the Twestival - an exciting development that will, I’m sure, lead to further “tweetups”.
Superbly organised, the Reading Twestival took place at the Spanish-style La Tasca. Newcomers were warmly greeted by @simonster and partner @DonnaWhitehead at the downstairs bar entrance, where they received a sticker bearing their Twitter username, e.g. @mattbrady, and an opportunity to buy raffle tickets.
The top raffle prize was brilliantly conceived (and it is brilliant): a Tana Water T6 water dispenser. Brilliant, because unfiltered tap water in Reading doesn’t taste so great, but more importantly, the Twestival was held in aid of charity:water. Marvellous. Unfortunately, I didn’t win anything.
I was nervously expecting in-depth conversations about obscure programming languages and (shivers down spine) Mac vs PC debates. Instead, topics were more mainstream. Yes, there were hardcore geeks, but there were also sponsor people (I recognised at least one MS face) and salesy types (ok, fair enough, we were all selling something - it wasn’t just about the giving). In other words, the Reading Twestival crowd was a mixed bunch.
The first person I approached, standing in a group located conveniently next to the bar (Cruzcampo on tap), spotted my dazzling, bright yellow Barcelona top and said something about the friendly international between England and Spain the night before. That was the perfect ice-breaker (confirming that football is indeed the ultimate ice-breaker). That, and the fact that my name sticker was no longer on my Nike jacket (I later found it stuck to an empty pint glass).
As the drink flowed, live tweets from global Twestival events were projected on to a screen. Which leads me to my only gripe: I was unable to connect to the wireless network and therefore unable to tweet myself. Others in the first group I was with had similar difficulties (there was an amusing moment when we all produced an iPhone/iPod Touch at once).
It’s a very minor gripe, however, as I was delighted to meet and communicate in person with “tweeple” (Twitter + people) such as @jangles, @musingsofamanc, @timmorgan, @tjrobinson, @x5315, @lukesmith, an enthusiastic @craigyd (Craig and I can be seen in this post-pint photo) and a more philosophical @davidjohnpowell (that’s David talking to me in this photo) (pics snapped by @BenjaminEllis, a tremendously nice chap).
And finally, back to the giving. Reading Twestival raised a super £1007.04 for charity:water and the alcohol gave some of us - dreaded Twitter derivative alert - a “twangover” on Friday morning.
Other summaries of the Reading Twestival can be read on the following blogs:
There has been much media excitement over Twitter in recent weeks. The T word is rapidly becoming a household name.
It has yet to catch on with local political activists and councillors, however.
A bit of quick research on my part has revealed that the following only are tweeting:
Glenn Goodall (Lib Dem councillor) is less than convinced, describing it as “a little pointless“.
Martin Salter MP is also unenthusiastic, though it will reportedly be much easier for Labour Party MPs to engage with constituents using Twitter with the recent launch of a new CMS. I will then have more scrolling to do on this MPs who tweet page (currently there are just 15).
Have I missed anyone locally?
Tickets for the Reading Twestival (not to be confused with the August Bank Holiday weekend
event) are now available.
The venue has also been announced: La Tasca. If you fancy meeting local Tweeple over a plate of bravas, visit the Reading Twestival website for full details.
Since my last post on local political bloggers, published a number of days ago (I have been kept busy in the real world), several developments have occurred.
Martin Salter MP has relaunched his site at http://www.martinsalter.com. The site offers current campaign information, news releases, downloadable Parliamentary News reports in PDF, angling pics and more. The Evening Post reports that he has no plans to spend time on Twitter. On an unrelated note, it is very pleasing to see Martin oppose the Heathrow third runway decision.
Oranjepan of Reading List has published a Reading List Blog Survey. To date, answers have been submitted by:
- former MP Jane Griffiths
- Wendy House’s Wendy
- Glenn Goodall (Lib Dem Councillor for Redlands) - see below
- Matt Brady of the curiously-named Reading Roars!
- Katherine “The Sourceress” Robinson
- Zoman, who answers on his blog z0man’s Personal Corner
Please do submit your Reading blog, if you have one. This looks an interesting intiative that can help bring like-minded individuals together (I’m pleased to see there is one other blogger who shares my view that we have too many bars in the town centre). To keep up to date with Oranjepan’s articles on the Reading blogosphere, bookmark his blogging page.
A public spat meanwhile continues in response to Bloggers and Luddites in Reading, published on Adrian Windich’s Green Reading blog.
Glenn Goodall, Lib Dem Councillor for Redlands ward, launched a blog at http://glenngoodall.mycouncillor.org.uk/. Oranjepan was first to spot it, to which Glen’s response was Bugger! I’ve been spotted!
The Tech Savvy/Luddite debate is hotting up.
The Evening Post published an article this morning on Richard Willis’ blog entry, Tech Savvy or Luddite?, featuring a comparison by the councillor of local parliamentary candidates and MPs’ online activities. Martin Salter MP didn’t score very highly in this analysis and was labelled a “Luddite”.
In response, Martin suggested to the Evening Post that the blogosphere is “the last refuge for tragic insomniacs who lack social skills”. Strong words.
Obviously, I don’t agree with that view (not fully, as I could use more sleep).
The way I see it, Martin doesn’t have to blog, especially if he feels uncomfortable with the idea (though I have an inkling he might be good at it, as he has a way with words - whether you agree with them or not), or set up a Facebook profile or group. Ultimately, blogging and/or Facebook don’t work for everyone.
The opportunity to engage online mustn’t be ignored, however. There is an array of tools to consider, with new ones emerging all the time. If blogging doesn’t feel right, then look for an alternative (keeping objectives and target audience in mind).
The increasingly significant Twitter, for example, is dead simple to use: no need to worry about constructing long articles with links, images and so forth. A simple sentence can be fashioned and sent in seconds (e.g. “I am meeting x and y”). No technical knowledge required. And it’s hip (or hipper), with Jonathan Ross and Stephen Fry joining the party recently. Meanwhile, Labourist.org published their first “tweet” four days ago - and now have 118 followers.
Other responses to the “Luddite” story were published as follows:
It’s probably worth stressing at this point that we mustn’t get too carried away! As Richard Willis himself said, “It’s just a bit of fun”.
A promising new local blog has surfaced on my blog radar: Reading List.
The blog has a local politics theme. Its Lib Dem author, “Oranjepan” , who I strongly suspect is also responsible for the political blog Not Yet Out Of The Woods, explained:
I’m immensely annoyed about the coverage of local politics in this bijou borough of ours, so I’ve decided to start up this blog in order to create a space for a balanced commentary of events.
Frankly there have been lots of claims made about which side is better than the rest at using teh interwebs to communicate their messages best, but I’m not convinced by any of them. Willis, Griffiths and Jones go hammer and tongs at it pushing their usual agendas, but I’d like to see them explaining what difference they think their online presence has made, or is it just an outlet to express their own frustrations?
Oranjepan was referring to opinions initially published by independent councillor Tony Jones (December 2008) and more recently by Tory councillor Richard Willis (January 2009), before Jane Griffiths joined the debate.
Richard considered the online presence of local parliamentary candidates and current MPs on his blog, Richard Willis’s Blog, launched last December. In his entry Tech Savvy or Luddite?, Richard compares sites by Rob Wilson MP, Gareth Epps, Anneliese Dodds, Rob White, Alok Sharma, Patrick Murray and Martin Salter MP.
I can’t say that I agree with all that Richard wrote (is Anneliese Dodds’ “microscopic font” “noteworthy”? And where is the link pointing to such a page?), but it’s nevertheless interesting to see such analysis emerge.
The use of social media by local politicians is worthy of further and more comprehensive independent study, I believe, to include also Richard’s blog (which features a rather grainy image of the councillor and no Search), as well as other websites of note, such as the satirical muckspReading.
Looking for a Reading watering hole? drinksinReading.com is a newly launched search engine allowing users to search for places offering food, drink, entertainment, Wi-Fi and more in the town.
The online guide will be maintained and updated by the bar owners themselves, and consumers may sign up to become friends with their chosen venues (so that special offers, for example, may be received by email or SMS).
Laurence Williams, who started drinksinreading, explained to me that inspiration came from the Robert Elms Show on BBC London in May 2007 when an American caller said that he was unable to find detailed information on bars.
He added that the Reading site is a test case (chosen for its demographics), with further sites planned for Bristol, London and Cardiff.
Laurence also emphasised that they will be working closely with drinkaware and similar organisations, including Reading PubWatch, to promote sensible drinking. A very good move, I say.