Victoria, B.C. March. 26, 2010 – Twestival, the International Twitter Festival, was recently held in Victoria to help raise money for an international charity group. The event, organized via the popular social media site but attended in person, was echoed by dozens of cities across the globe. The simultaneous fundraisers worked to collect money for Concern, a humanitarian aid group providing relief for those in extreme poverty.
The Twestival raised its charitable donations through tickets sold, cash donations, and raffled prizes, which ParetoLogic was glad to be a part of. The Victoria, B.C. software company donated a bundle pack of their popular XoftSpySE Anti-Spyware 7.0 and Privacy Controls software. At the end of the night, organizers announced that over $8,000 had been raised in Victoria alone. The global amount raised is expected to surpass last year’s total of over $250,000.
Victoria’s Twitter users are particularly lively, with an energetic online community based around the #YYJ hashtags. Besides the Twestival, semi-weekly Tweetups are a regular feature around the city. Kai Davis, who maintains the ParetoLogic Twitter account and attended the Twestival, said of the event “Twitter is all about community, sharing, and making real human contacts. The fact that we can use it to help those in need is a great testament to its power.”