Kalamazoo-area group puts a face to a tweet

Please excuse Sarah Lee if she needs a moment to catch her breath. Lee has been everywhere lately talking up TweetUp Kalamazoo.

The Kalamazoo area is embracing Twitter, the social network that shares 140 character messages, and momentum for the local group of Twitter users continues to build. The group is not quite a year old, has about 35 to 40 people at each meeting and they’re never the same people, Lee says. “We do have a few core members, but others are new and curious about what a tweetup is to begin with.”

Tweetup Kalamazoo is just coming off two successful events — one at the Wine Loft and one at Airway Lanes — to raise funds to go toward educating people about the Kalamazoo River oil spill and how to be part of the cleanup or other solutions. To date they have raised $700 and hope by continuing to spread the word they will collect $1,000 to go toward oil spill relief. “The group learned a lot about using social media to get organized and get people together for a common cause,” Lee says.

On the horizon, the group currently is planning not only its September tweetup but is also in communication with tweeters across the state for an #eastmeetwest tweetup that would bring Detroit Tweeters into Kalamazoo for the night.

Lee says the group will be inviting notable social media speakers in the near future to inspire the group in its pursuits of social media for personal business branding. The meetings also help bring home the concept that social media is not all about marketing or pushing a product out, it’s about being social and connecting with your followers.

“TweetUp Kalamazoo is an excellent platform for social media education, truly many have learned more through hands on learning with peers or advance users than they would in a class,” Lee says.

Writer: Kathy Jennings
Source: Sarah Lee, Kalamazoo Regional Chamber of Commerce