I was explaining to my friend as we sat in Brockwell Park the idea behind a tweetup… and she concluded “so it’s basically a way to make new friends?” and I thought actually it is. As school-ground as it sounds I think Twitter is a good way to make new friends (although I have had discussions with people about the difference between having a lot of Followers and having a lot of Friends) – but I think the point still stands it is a good way to actually meet new people. But I can imagine a tweetup especially a group one could be risky and does require all people to step out from behind the mask of Twitter.
I have to admit I felt nervous arranging a tweetup, although the mechanics were easy, the thought of meeting an entire new group of people is daunting to me to say the least. My friend said to me that she was proud of me (and she didn’t mean it at all patronisingly) because we both know that I get nervous about meeting new people. I don’t really know why, but I think it has to do with my fear of embarrassing myself.
Luckily for me, I had spoken with majority of those attending quite a lot, and I felt quite comfortable being able to generate conversation, but I just hoped I wouldn’t be the big fat moose wearing last years fashion meeting the Glitterati of the gay world. So I put on my safety outfit… and strode out into the mix. (I should caveat this with that fact I have done one big tweetup before, and I have met a few people from Twitter for coffee or a swift pint, so I am not a complete virgin – I would suggest smaller groups to those daunted by the prospect – and for the big group one try to meet them in a pub and not in a club as that makes introductions really difficult as I found to my cost last time)
The first lump caught in my throat when I realised a) I would be late (I am incapable of being on time to social events – I am normally 15-20minutes late – as I don’t schedule enough time for throwing my clothes around the room, trying most things on twice, and going back to my original outfit), and b) I would be on the same train as two of the guys that were coming. Although this gave me the benefit of being able to walk into the bar with someone it meant that I would be under their spotlight in the harsh light of day and there would be no escape.
My second lump in the throat was when I stepped on the train and I thought – “oh god they look better than me – a lot better!” but I cant stress enough how nice these two guys are. I think they may have some Mutant power to make people feel relaxed and included, because my tension levels fell through the floor, and I thought if nothing else I would comfortable with these two and if no-one else turns up it wouldn’t matter.
Walking to the pub, I was getting the tweets telling me people had arrived, and I felt a little proud that people had bothered to show. I am under no delusion that they turned up to see the glorious LiamSE21, but it was nice that people bothered to come, even if it was to see how hot everyone was.
When I got in there, after some stilted introductions with a mixture of names and usernames we settled into to conversations. To be honest, Twitter came up very little, it was really nice to meet new people have discussions longer than 140 characters, be able to talk about our personal lives without broadcasting it to the universe and find that in actual fact all of the people had a lot to say, and we were all quite different but managed to get along really well.
Some of my thoughts on tweetups:
· Names become an Issue – (maybe just for me) I have to admit, I am terrible with names and it took a lot to shake off their usernames – so I apologise in advance to them if I continue to refer to them as their usernames rather than their actual names – but when you are used to people being called something random the name kind of sticks in my head.
· Flirting is even more fun – Even though I think we were all in couples, and most of the couples were there (mine was working), it was actually fun to be a bit cheeky, and have a laugh with people that you might have sent the odd double-entendre tweet to.
· People will surprise you – some of the people that are the most flirty on twitter can be the most reserved in real life, and those quiet ones are the ones to watch. Also I found everyone really intelligent – I know I shouldn’t sound surprised but it’s something that is really hard to grasp on twitter, maybe mainly because I am obsessed with #HottieorNottie it only gets a limited response, and I may not read your tweets on the current situation in Libya.
· It can be hard to talk to everyone – I actually struggled to get a chance to talk to everyone properly, it was so busy in the pub we went to that I think that may have been a contributory factor, and in future I might suggest a venue where we weren’t hemmed in so much.
· But finally they are fun, and a great way to meet new people – whether they become your friends or not, and if you’re lucky (like I was) you might actually think “I’d like to be there friend!”
Anyway I have just puked down myself at that cheese-fest. Mainly I thought they were mostly hot and was jealous of them – so becoming their friends will be convenient way to perv over all over them. (This happened to be my friends guess as to why I do it). Also somehow we ended up XXL and half of them took their tops off… #TweetUpWin
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