So tell me about Macmillan Cancer…
Macmillan Cancer Support is all about improving the lives of people affected by cancer. We provide practical, medical, emotional and financial support.  So as well as providing nurses and occupational therapists, we can come to your house and help with the gardening or carry your shopping and we even offer support if you’re struggling with the financial impact of cancer.

How did you get involved with Twitter – how do you use it for Macmillan?
I got involved because a couple of friends were using it and it seemed an easy way top keep in touch with them.  Both use social media as part of their work, so I saw first hand just how useful it can be for an organisation.  It took a while to get our heads round how to use it for Macmillan, but I think we’re getting there – it’s just part and parcel of being an organisation on the web these days.  We send out updates on campaigns and fundraising events, we encourage people to join in and we try our best to respond to everyone who @’s us, especially those who are fundraising.

What was the idea behind the Shoreditch Twitnic?
I’ve been to a couple of the Shoreditch Twits and really enjoyed them, so when they were trying to come up with a June concept, I suggested making it part of our Big Picnic event.  We encourage people around the country to raise money for Macmillan by hosting picnics and getting their guests to donate money in exchange for some food or drink.  We also have loads of sales promotions in Somerfield, so if you go into your local one, you’ll find loads of products where a percentage of the profits are donated to Macmillan.  We were lucky in that Somerfield are great supporters of ours and they provided all the food and drink for the Twitnic.  Big Picnic goes on till the 14th July, so if anyone else wants to get involved, they can log on, register their details and get lots of tips, ideas and themes.

And you’ve got something else planned for Shoreditch as well?
We do, it’s called The Brick Lane Festival and it’s happening on the 13th August 2009.  We are basically taking over some venues on Brick Lane and the surrounding area and putting a bunch of bands on.  We’ve already announced that Frank Turner, The Chapman Family, Spycatcher and Jersey Budd are playing and we’re going to be announcing loads more in the next two weeks.  I’m even tempted to get up and play myself!

We’re really excited about the event as it’s the first time we’ve done anything like this.  Tickets are only £20 and all the bands and venues are doing it for free, so all that money goes to people affected by cancer. You can buy tickets and check for more bands being added here.

Do you see more charities turning online in today’s climate?
I do, but I think it’s just something that every brand/organisation is doing, not just charities.  For us, it’s obvious you have to have some presence on the web, not just in terms of PR, reputation management but also fundraising and raising awareness of the services we provide. It’s a great way to connect with your supporters and get real time feedback on what you are doing right and what people aren’t responding to. Because of the climate, we’re all told by experts that it is a cheap and easy way to work, but I think with charities (particularly smaller ones) our greatest resource is people and their time, so while there are all these new things to try and experiment, we can’t replace all the things that already work.

I’ve found that I could spend all day on Twitter/Facebook/Justgiving sites talking to supporters, but all the offline/print/broadcast work we also do would suffer and they are equally important to reaching people. I think it’s vital that we remember that there are many people who need us that aren’t on the net.

But you’re relatively ahead of the pack, what advice would you give to the third sector  to get involved to this?
Firstly I’d state the obvious; that listening to what people are saying about you before diving into the conversation is important. Whether it is Twitter or forums or Facebook, you need to be patient and really look at what people are saying (and not saying) before you start to approach them. You’ll have a greater understanding of what the mood/culture is and that in turn will help you approach people online in a more friendly, less corporate way.

Every organisation has a personality that comes from a mix of their public face and internal culture. Try and find your voice and personality in everything you do.

Try everything that’s free! If you don’t like Twitter, or don’t see the value in it, there is probably another tool out there that will suit your needs.  The worry for me is that charities will see Twitter (because of the media spotlight) and if they don’t like it, will write of Social Media altogether.

Anything else we should know?
We have lots of different ways you can get involved with supporting Macmillan, from trekking in South America, to picnics, to marathons, to coffee mornings or just shaking your tin outside a supermarket.

While we’ll be praying for good weather for the next two weeks, you can start planning buy….

1. Buying a rug
2. Selecting appropriate picnic garments
3. Practice making Pimms
4. Telling all your twitter friends to sign up here

Finally, we’re also really grateful to Big Picnic supporter Somerfield who are providing us with a selection of goodies for the picnic itself. We’ll have a bucket or something on the day to collect donations for Macmillan. Follow them on twitter at @macmillancancer.

If anyone has suggestions for entertainment that go beyond frisbee and hackey-sack, I’m all ears.

They’ve been putting together some great events this year, including the fabulous “Fashion and the Web” which was sponsored by MAC cosmetics. So, when it came to the idea of organising a Shoreditch Twit with the Pout team, we jumped at the chance.

So I can now announce that Shoreditch Twit #8 will be renamed The Shoreditch Pout and will take place on Wednesday 27th May at DreamBagsJaguarShoes. The growing presence of the fashion industry in social media is not hard to spot, plenty of brands are getting involved in Twitter for customer service and to engage in a conversation about fashion and products with their audience. I’m personally really excitied about this one and would love to get some other companies involved in the event, so if you’d like to work with us, contact @miggyfromPOUT or @shoreditchtwit

Will be great to see usual faces and new ones coming along. Sign up here or click on the flyer to put your name down.

But…… it’s being held at Al Volo, just 100 yards from The Big Chill Bar, venue for Shoreditch Twit #7. So, after negotiations that would make Arafat and Rabin proud, the very Italian and very cool Julius has come round to the idea that people will be able to make both events, especially since you could probably play frisbee between the two venues.

The conflict resolution will see the evening beginning at Al Volo for some Italian food and drinks and then heading to The Big Chill for the true Shoreditch irregulars. Turns out this thing is going to be yet-another-monthly-social-media-event, so you’ll be glad to know it won’t be long before the Twit is retired and the idea of London tweetups becomes gradually redundant.

RSVP for Aperitweat here and Shoreditch Twit here.

So what now? where next? Well the Twit was never meant to be in the same vein as one of the many social media networking events, all kitted up with sponsors and entertainment, at ever more exclusive venues, with ever more exclusive guest lists. The original Shoreditch Twit was “meant to be a very informal way of making new connections and strengthening existing ones over a nice cold drink.” It was six people in a pub, all buying their own drinks and making their own entertainment. 

So, while there are certainly (well-founded) rumblings of bigger and better Twits later on this year, in April, we’re going back to our roots at The Big Chill.   

When: Wednesday 15th April, from 7.00pm
Where: The Big Chill Bar, Dray Walk off Brick Lane, London E1 6QL (they have Wi-Fi)
How: Follow @shoreditchtwit, leave a comment, or click here to RSVP (twtvite has been set to non auto-tweet)

LW: What’s the idea behind Tipped?

CO: Well we’re a community site that allows people to write reviews of places they’ve been, art galleries, coffee shops, restaurants etc. Unlike a lot of other sites out there we’re not funded by some massive VC so we’re free to cultivate an awesome community of people that are passionate about what they do, where they go or what they consume rather than focussing on numbers. We’d rather have a smaller community of awesome people than a massive community of people that think a mocha frappe latte from Starbucks is good coffee or that Pizza Hut is an acceptable way of consuming pizza!

You guys are big in Shoreditch right?

Well I’ve been based in Shoreditch for about 9 years now and our office was based in Spitalfields until recently (we’ve moved to Islington briefly so that Joel (@joelbrazil), who has recently had a baby, can be closer to home). But yeah Shoreditch is where it’s at, it’s like the second heart of London.

And the Austin Gallery in particular – what else have you been doing there?

Yeah the guys at Austin Gallery are awesome – we met Ben a while ago as he was the only place in the area serving Square Mile coffee (awesome Bethnal Green based coffee roasters) and we got chatting. The first event we had was the Tipped Winter Barbeque where we had like 5 barbeques going out the back in December – it obviously pissed down with rain but we still had over 100 people and most of them were hanging out in the rain with the barbeques. Then last Thursday we had the private view for an exhibition we curated called Zeitgeist. Basically our friends Brew Dog are launching this new beer called Zeitgeist so we worked with the artist who created the labels and produced this show.

So what’s the occasion today?

Well Tuesday is Shoreditch Twit! The Zeitgeist exhibition is on for a whole week so we figured it would be cool to do more than just one event and Shoreditch Twit is one of our favorite Twitter / Tech meet-ups so we thought it would be cool to host it.

How do you use Twitter?

Well we’re only a team of 3 at Tipped so at the moment we all use our personal accounts for business and pleasure as it were. We use it to keep in touch with the Tipped community, make new friends and keep up to date with stuff that’s going on. I think our whole thing at Tipped is about using digital technology to better organise our real world lives so in terms of being able to ask questions and get support from your network it’s awesome – personally though I’m a massive twitpic fan, I’d love to get to a point where every tweet came with a photo.

Where does the grumblemouse name come from?

Haha, well for some reason my nickname, from when I was a kid up until now, has been mouse. Who knows where it came from but then when I was at Uni I became pretty cynical about stuff, I blame No Logo – but whatever, someone probably once called me grumblemouse and it stuck – I like it, it’s pretty unique and certainly apt

I hear you like awesome things, what’s the awesomest thing you’ve Tipped recently?

Awesomeness is key – it’s what makes the world go round – if people don’t strive for awesomeness then you end up with mediocrity and life’s just too short for that. Jones Dairy Café have super awesome home-made fish pate on Sunday mornings; Pearl Liang is some of the most awesome dim sum in London; New Tayyabs is probably the most awesome lamb chops in London – but pretty much my favorite place is The Rake in Borough Market – they have the best selection of imported beers in London if not the country

How’s your leg holding up?

Ugh, well my girlfriend is doing this 100km walk to raise money for charity so we went to the countryside with a bunch of her friends – we did a 30km walk in about 5 hours and everything was sweet. The next day we decided to stroll down to the pub for some lunch and a beer and on the way I slipped and fell like, like, well kinda like Mr Bean might fall – anyway I tore a bunch of ligaments in my foot and the force of them snapping fractured the bone in my leg! Fucking awesome right! The funny thing now is that as the leg starts to heal and I get better on my crutches I end up walking further and now I’m getting mad pain in my hands and wrists; plus ca change grumble grumble…

LW: So tell me about Naked Wines…

RG: Naked Wines is an online farmer’s market. We believe that the most exciting wines in the world are made by the little guys, who don’t have the big marketing budgets to break into the UK. So we go direct to them. This saves them the money they would usually spend on selling so we can give our customers a better wine for a better price. And by bringing the winemaker and customer together through our website, where they can chat directly with each other, the customers know they are getting the genuine article, and the winemaker gets crucial feedback on their wines!

Why “Naked”?

We’re stripping away everything in a bottle of wine that you can’t drink, but that costs you money – the average bottle of wine sold in the UK today has just 30p of wine in it. And £1 of marketing, packaging and other stuff you can’t actually taste. Because you can talk to our winemakers and other customers direct you can see through the marketing, we have nothing to hide – we’re Naked!

What’s your best story involving nudity?

When we teamed up with Parcelforce who deliver our wine for us, they loved the Naked philosophy so much that when we returned to the office after the New Year’s festivities, we had photos from one of the guys there standing on the top of a snow covered mountain holding one of our wines in all his glory! Brrrr!

How are you using Twitter?

We’re still finding our feet with Twitter (@nakedwines). But the great thing about it is that it isn’t another sales channel, instead we see its as a great way to encourage new ideas and share things that have our attention. Whilst we will keep our followers up to date with what is going on at Naked HQ, we would much rather use twitter to pass on a great new wine blog we’ve found, or to see if anyone can source us a new Italian Pinot Grigio!

You’re involved with the Shoreditch Twit, tell us about that and why you’re being so generous?

As a group of people, we’re very ideas orientated and we see the Shoreditch Twit as a great way to share these ideas, and get feedback. We’re about to launch some exciting new social networking functionality on the website and it would be great if the ST community could get involved, in return for early Naked social status! As for our generosity, we just like to share the love!

How can we get involved with the site?

The new features on the website will allow you to go way beyond the usual “if you like this you’ll love that” functionality on other wine sites. Each customer can build their own profile, find people with similar tastes to get recommendations, share their reviews on Twitter, interact with the winemaker and they even have the chance to become an Arch Angel for a wine, which means they actually get involved in how we buy that wine.

Is drinking wine better without clothes on?

We think most things are better without clothes on, so yes!

Red or white?

Both! Depends on the situation, as an aperitif on a hot summers day a cool Sauvignon is a treat, but if I’m tucking into a bit of rare steak I’d usually crack open a big bold Aussie Shiraz.

Well cheers then!

To find out more, visit the Naked Wines website or have a chat with Rowan at Shoreditch Twit #6.

The Twit has, once again, teamed up with Tipped.co.uk to host its sixth incarnation at the rather bohemian Austin Gallery at the top of Brick Lane.

When: Tuesday 3rd March, from 7.00pm
Where: Austin Gallery, 119A Bethnal Green Road

The Shoreditch Twit #6 meetup is part of a series of events that Tipped is running at the gallery, which includes the Farewell to Winter party with Huddle.

As regulars will know, we always try to add a hint of intruige to the proceedings, from table football, to pool, to gambling for drinks (has to be done again!). So this time, we’re going to be showcasing some special acoustic acts with completely unplugged sets. Fortunately, the venue has two sections, so while the music is on downstairs, those wanting to chat can stay in the other room.

We’ve got some exciting performances lined up, from twitter newbie Elle Jay (@acousticellejay) and Matt Churchill (@geetarchurchy) who heads up vocals for his band Cedar. Our final act of the night is to be confirmed, but if you’re interested in playing, please do get in touch.

There will also be the usual blend of networking, drinks (some of which will be free!) and fun to be had by all. To sign up, visit the event Twtvite page here.

There were plenty of good conversations and ideas, especially about how we can make these meetups more useful and enjoyable for all – watch this space for more information. The Twit also received its first piece of “press” this week, appearing in Stuff Magazine’s  top Twitter tips. At this rate, it’ll need a site of its own… anyone volunteering to build it would be welcomed with open arms!

Next Twit will be on 3rd March, once again, the folk from Tipped will be getting involved, so expect some more news some time in the second half of February.

So said Michael Jackson at some point. Anyway, it seems as if holding Twitter meetups in Shoreditch has hit the mainstream. It was announced this week that London’s next iteration of Twestival (the Tweetup to rule them all) will be held at Shoreditch Studios on February 12th. The folks behind Twestival and the more recent Twinterval are doing a great job with their events and I’m glad to see that they’re copying taking inspiration from The Shoreditch Twit in terms of picking the best neighbourhood in London to hold the event. In fact, it “validates the market” –  a phrase from tech PR-land which spokespeople use when Microsoft or Cisco buys their biggest competitor.

Joking aside, they’re very different events, and it’s great to see 70 cities registered to take part in a global Twestival next month. In the meantime, Shoreditch Twit #5 will show its ugly face on January 26th at The Elbow Room, Curtain Road. It’s a Monday night, so see it as a warm-up to the ‘ditch’s blow out in a few weeks, an opportunity to catch up with regular and new faces, a time to find out a bit more about future Twits and what we’ve got planned for 2009, and a chance to beat me at pool… seriously, I’m rubbish.

Deets…
Monday 26th January
The Elbow Room, 97-113 Curtain Road, Shoreditch, EC2A 3BS (map here)
Time: From 7.00pm

As always, RSVP to @shoreditchtwit or leave a comment here so that we have an idea of numbers.