So this month we are going to go where few geeks have been before, the golf course, aside from a few games of Tiger Woods on the XBox that is. @TheFirstTeeLR has invited us out on August 26th. They will have drinks and light appetizers and a few fun activities if the weather cooperates (meaning is less than 100°).

So bring your @PGA_JohnDaly loudmouth pants or knickers and hang out with us on Aug 26th (yes it will be indoors).

Where: First Tee LR (directions)
When: August 26th @ 5:30

Please RSVP here and spread the word if you plan to come: http://twtvite.com/3jr76p

It’s safe to say that our tweetups have become a tour of Little Rock’s best restaurants and bars and this Thursday builds on this tradition as we visit the brand new Red Door Restaurant.

The Red Door is Mark Abernathy’s latest restaurant. Mark’s cuisine has been a staple of Little Rock dining with restaurants like Loca Luna, Bene Vita, and Juanita’s and now we get to enjoy his take on modern Southern Cuisine.

We’ll be enjoying appetizers of Red Door (Blue Mesa) cheese dip and homemade tri-color chips as well as Pepperoni and Tuscan Veggie appetizer pizzas. The Red Door is also continuing another #LRtweetup tradition and introducing the “Tweet-Tini”.

A “Tweet-tini” as described by Mark,

more civilized version of a long island Iced Tea with Fresh Brewed Iced Tea, Citrus Vodka, Simple Syrup and Fresh Lemon

What more could you ask?

Throw in a mouthwatering menu with everything from toasted bruschetta to BBQ Shrimp and Grits and a chance to relax with some great friends and it’s easy to see we are starting year number 2 right.

See you Thursday evening.

Please RSVP and don’t forget you can follow @RedDoorLR on Twitter, or visit their website, RedDoorRestaurant.net

After a huge night at the #LRTweeties we are back at it again with our June #LRTweetup, this time at @RedDoorLR.  Executive Chef/Owner Mark Abernathy has promised lots of good appetizers and a special drink for the the night.

When: Thursday, June 10th, Beginning at 5:30 p.m.
Where: Red Door

Please RSVP here and spread the word if you plan to come: http://twtvite.com/jbn64v

My Twitter Story by @melissaar

Over the year, I have met other people and gone to other tweetups. It’s a friendly and entertaining group who are there for you when you are up and are praying for you when you are down. They managed to save the dean of UALR Law School’s life. (well sorta) I’ve had the opportunity to meet people that I wouldn’t have met under any other circumstances and to share ideas with people whom I probably wouldn’t have had time if I had to do it one on one. It also reminds me that I am not alone and the world is bigger than the town I am in.

Read her full post at runmelissarun.wordpress.com

I have a #LRTweetup story, and I’ve never attended a Tweetup by @erniebufflo

I still can’t get over the fact that a group of people I’ve never “met” nominated me for an award, though I guess it’s a testament to my tendency to insert my loudmouthed self into the center of things, but more than that, a testament to this group’s welcoming attitude.  I can’t wait to meet each and every member of the #LRTweetup community.

Read her full post at erniebufflo.wordpress.com

How Twitter Saved My Life (kinda) by @jmdipippa

Twitter allowed  me to break out of the isolation my recuperation imposed. I don’t like to be cooped up and rarely sit still at work but moving was challenging and uncomfortable. Twitter gave me incentive to work on my recovery.  I tweeted the number of steps I had taken that day or my recovering appetite or my new Guitar Hero scores.  And the encouragement from my new twitter buddies kept me accountable to them and gave me even more incentive to take a few more steps the next day.  It kept me happy and helped me to become healthy.

Read his full post at ualr.edu/jmdipippa

Want to relive the glory of the #LRtweeties music? Download the .mp3 of the songs.

• What Time Is It?
• My Life Would Suck

Untitled by @plecroybrown

While only a little bit of information can be conveyed in 140 characters, a relationship with another person can be formed via multiple posts or direct messages over time. Forming relationships is the true power of Twitter and I feel that is where this platform will excel in the upcoming years. Like-minded people will gravitate  toward each other to form new partnerships or friendships and thus create new ideas, perpetuating the underlying creativity behind Twitter.

Read her full post at plecroybrown.wordpress.com

But What’s Your Real Name? by @laureneclark

I love to meet the real people with real lives and real names behind the nicknames we recognize from our minute-to-minute glances at our screens. We’ve all found ourselves in the middle of introductions referring to each other as @______. But nothing beats seeing each other IRL…and nurturing those virtually founded friendships. So don’t be surprised if, after the great things you and I may have shared on this Twitter-thingy, I smile and ask “But what’s your real name?” when we do finally meet. Because behind every good Twitter name…there’s a real person, #fine and #fabulous!

Read her full post at burstofquestioningwind.tumblr.com

Just wanted to say a quick thanks for everyone who came out to our first LRTweeties/1 year birthday bash last night. You all made this our largest Tweetup so far.

I’d like to send a special shout out to the others on the planning group with me: @alextcone, @andreasmalec, @angelmg, @ghidotti and @tsudo. Somehow in spite of everything they turned this crazy idea dreamed up over queso into a reality.

We had a great video shot by @jeffdailey and produced with the help of @cueincorporated that is posted below along with the list of winners from last night. Thanks again and lets make year 2 even better.

Twitter Conversationalist – @kerrijack
LOL Tweep – @angryczeck
Twitter Rampage – @amybhole
Tweeter You’d Like to Hear More From – @sarabethjones
Best Tweeting in a Supporting Role – @katiemcmanners
TMI Tweep – @kerrijack
Most Creative Use of Hashtags – @andreasmalec
Deep Tweets – @alextcone
Most Likely to Run for Office – @blakerutherford
Best Live Tweeting – @tolbertreport
Most Random Tweets – @angryczeck
Best Biz Tweeter – @capitalhotel
Best Use of Twitter for Pushing Only Your Blog – @blakerutherford
Night Owl Tweets Award – @tsudo
Most Likely to Break Twitter (Most Prolific Tweep) – @kerrijack
Plays Nicest in the Sandbox – @katiemcmanners
Best Twitter Couple – @bryanjones & @sarabethjones
Puddy Tat – @cmcase
Party Tweep – @robbymatthews
Best Out of Town Tweep – @cateyleo
Best Cameraphonoatography (Twitpic of the Year) – The gym locker by @amybhole
Tweet of the Year – “My “k” is sticking. And I’m writing lots of copy about Arkansas this afternoon. I’m fuced.” by @amybhole

from ArkansasBusiness.com

Arkansas Business published a masterpiece by media reporter and tweetup regular Sam Eiflling, @SamEifling.

On May 18, the loose band of Twitter users who have made Little Rock Tweetups a monthly rite of beery canoodling are getting together at Juanita’s Cafe & Bar in Little Rock for the Little Rock Tweeties – an awards night to recognize the most clever and creative among this digital tribe…

…The notion of handing out awards for tweeting makes you wonder just how interesting some people find their navels. But the entire tone of the enterprise has been tongue-in-cheek, and a nod to the bona fide human connections that the Tweetup crowd seems to have stumbled onto while trying to network.

Read his full article “Twitter’s Influence Felt in Tornadoes and Tweeties”

from the desk of @LT

Our friend and co-founder Lance Turner, @LT, wrote a great post that recalled some of the highlights from the past year.

This whole #LRTweetup enterprise was founded nearly on a lark. And you can read much more about the history of the event (in which I played a small role), plus other stories from the #LRTweetup community, right here from the people who lived it. Throughout the year, this ecosystem of 140-character oversharers has raised money for nonprofits, shared many thousands of MBs of information and helped cultivate a stronger, more connected business community. And this is just the start.

Read the full post “#LRTweetup: Join Us Next Week for the LRTweetie Awards!”

Many thanks to @LT and @SamEifling for their kind words and to Arkansas Business for their ongoing coverage of #LRtweetup.

ACT I: The Bald Man and the Challenge

I was introduced to Twitter by a preternaturally energetic bald man named @adambroitman. At the time he was Director of Emerging and Creative Strategy for Morpheus Media, before moving on to Director of Strategy at Crayon. He’s now Partner and Ringleader at Circ.us.

As a friend of @MaryroseWagoner, Adam was speaking at a PRSA luncheon on social media a few years ago, and he was incredibly nice, genuine and excited about the future of this medium. At the end of his talk, he encouraged the entire room of public relations professionals to create Twitter accounts. He challenged us, in fact, as communicators, to put Little Rock on the Twitter map.

So, I went right back to my office that same day and did exactly that. I opened a Twitter account, I mean. The rest wouldn’t come until much later, and as it would turn out, people I hadn’t even met would be responsible for meeting that challenge.

See, up to this point in my life, I was happy to remain relatively anonymous. I had a small circle of friends, many professional colleagues and an unlisted phone number. You could say I was more guarded than an iPhone prototype on a Saturday night, but that would just be mean. Putting myself out there, online, for Google to index and for all the world to see really made me nervous.

What if I said something stupid? I would most assuredly say something stupid. Whoever penned the words “Tis better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to open your mouth and remove all doubt” had never signed up for a Twitter account, I was sure of it.

But I wasn’t about to back down from Adam’s challenge.

So I took the plunge. I followed @adambroitman and a bunch of other people, including @chrisbrogan and @cc_chapman and @steverubel. I followed people all across the country, like @Scobleizer and @jowyang and @charleneli. I followed @TechCrunch and @SocialMediaClub and @Mashable. And I listened and learned from these folks and many, many others as I tried to understand this new form of communicating and connecting.

ACT II: Kind of like Magic: The Gathering, Except with Less Black

Fast forward a year and hundreds of (probably stupid) tweets later, and I still knew only a handful of local people on Twitter. Then something happened, some critical mass of adoption, participation and planetary alignment, and when someone said “Tweetup” out loud one day, the local Twitter scene blew up right before my eyes.

I watched as @LT created a hashtag, #LRTweetup was born and people came from all corners, excited to meet other local people on Twitter. Natalie ran to fetch nametags. We peeled them with glee and wrote our usernames in Sharpie marker, tittering at the complete silliness of it all, and we descended upon Sticky Fingerz like a parliament of geeky rooks. It was, in a word, awesome.

While Natalie and I may have started this hot mess, it was people like @tsudo and @alextcone and @bryanjones and @jgreghenderson who jumped in and organized us, blogged us, scheduled us and pushed us toward our first official charity event, Twestival. It was people like @amybhole who offered us @capitalbargrill and special blue drinks. Then it was all the rest of you, who came out despite your fears of what you might find.

And let me tell you, I am so glad you did.

ACT III: Only Fools Fall in Love with Hashtags

Watching this community grow has been one of the most amazing experiences of my life.

I’ve learned that #printlives. I’ve learned to #passonthegift and #taketimetogive and #reachoutandread. And I’ve learned to follow #ARwx at the first sign of bad weather, a hashtag deserving of its own theme music and tagline: “Come with me if you want to live.” Say it with the accent. It’s fun.

You all amaze me with your talents. I learn something from each of you on a daily basis. Your funny, endearing, ever so smart and generous words encourage me to keep writing, after suffering a case of burnout so severe I had to change careers. I watch you take care of each other and support each other. And you continually inspire me to be smarter, nicer and braver today than I was yesterday.

Really, what more can you ask from a group of total strangers you met on the Internet? We’re incredibly lucky to have been here in this moment, to see this unfold in precisely this way. It speaks to the immense power of this medium we share, and to our limitless potential as human beings to accomplish so much more together than we ever could alone.

I’ve learned from all of you to keep opening my mouth, stupid or not. And if that makes me a fool, or a geek, or a nerd, then I’m certainly among some of the best company I’ve ever known.

#thankyou #lrtweetup