Tweetsteria happens naturally when Super Fans get on their phones to research time sensitive offers, exclusive invitations and rare gear for themselves and friends. When they post their secrets on Twitter (or any social networking platform), and their friends LIKE and SHARE their finds it can 'blow up' their profiles and that's the hysteria behind Tweet steria. It happens when hip hop artists come to town, and new clubs open, and new gadgets and long awaited video games hit the market.  Fostering a natural Twitter hysteria around a brand is an art form to which many marketing executives aspire, because it can make them famous and their clients rich.  So its with some amusement that I find my friend Laura Bilotta from Single in the City has teamed up with Surround Digital Marketing to manufacture what I'll kindly consider a synthetic Tweetsteria and she has brilliantly made it into a fun and thrifty Singles event! This ought to be good.

Single in the City is making Tweetsteria at Cagney's Wine Bar in Mississauga on Weds May 24th 2017, and all registered participants can win twenty dollar bills courtesy of six different local business sponsors. Modern Mississauga has signed on as the official media partner for this historic first event, and Laura has even promised me a bit part in the live show.  It is possible that one of the twenty-one questions will be about this magazine.

What is Tweetsteria?

Tweetsteria is a business sponsored Singles-orientated trivia game played over Twitter in a restaurant or club wherein participants compete for twenty dollar bills. It has evolved from a game called Cloud Warriors which was also tested at Cagney's a few years ago with an ISP provider as sponsor. If you ever hear the story from anyone who works at Surround or their sister direct mail company DRMG or Cagney's, they'll tell you that night was a spectacular failure. But it was spectacular. The game worked well and it was cool, and so now with Single in the City promoting the event as a dating program they hope it'll do better, and maybe even become a 'thing'.

Laura's blog post, What is Tweetsteria? frames the event as something of a bold experiment.  Participants will be making history she says and then sets about explaining a game that anyone can play as long as they have an active Twitter account (which they can make anytime, at home or right there in the restaurant).

There are two display systems; one to show the questions and another to display the game screen which is just a twitter feed showing all tweets tagged #tweetsteria.  So when the game is on, and the first question is asked on the TVs across the bar, the first correct answer with the #tweetsteria hashtag to show up on the game screen which is a video projector WINS a twenty dollar bill.  What can go wrong?

When I spoke with Laura about the game last week she lamented how brand focused the questions were and how she hoped it wouldn't turn off her loyal followers.  In truth the twenty one questions are so difficult that nobody in the venue is expected to know the answers offhand.  That's the whole point of the exercise is that they have to use their phones to find the answers and then use their phones again to tweet the answers and so, the thinking is, that singles will become working couples as they conspire to get quicker with each task by teaming up together.

On Laura's blog is says "...a typical Tweetsteria query might be, 'How many service delivery trucks does such and such a business have?' when the answer is right there in bold font on the featured business's website, ie 'Nine trucks to serve Mississauga'"

So armed with the correct answer, the player who wins would be the first to post '9, #Tweetsteria'.

Second and third place finishers receive pink and black (Laura's colours) paper chits that can be redeemed for bonus prizing and will be counted in the event of a tie for the grand prize.

Tweetsteria Rules Promote Co-Ed Play

If a two man team wins twice, and a two women team wins twice, then the host (Laura Bilotta) reserves the right will break up these cliques and force one or the other to leave their seats in favour of a co-ed arrangement. Only boy girl teams can win without fear of host molestation and cell fission.  Musical chairs is expected and encouraged during breaks for players to find new partners.

Please note - Players do NOT need to have a 'following' on Twitter, just an active account so they can post tweets and win money (and you can set up an account at the restaurant). All you really need is a good device, a smartphone or iPad - laptops are not allowed, but tablet computers are acceptable.

The Sponsors

Modern Mississauga, the city's magazine,  is more or less breaking the story of who the sponsors are, with links to their websites, as this will be helpful for people who may be inclined to read up on these businesses and bookmark their sites and familiarize themselves with the minutia of their operations in hopes those brand facts appear as trivia questions on the night.

Seven local businesses are behind this Tweetsteria, if you count Cagneys. First alphabetically is Aire One Heating and Cooling which has been serving Ontario since 1990 (that's 27 years #Tweetsteria). A similar company is Master Mechanic which has their head office in Mississauga, and so does Weed-A-Way lawn care and these legacy businesses need no description.

Thermo Bilt Windows and Doors is playing along opposite Zayouna Personal Injury Lawyers and that's very brave on their part, and I look forward to seeing how these diverse operations are stitched together in the storytelling. Last is Softron bookkeeping which is no doubt exhausted after a busy tax season. Do you see the connection? They're all rather boring businesses no offense, but you see how something like this is probably the most innovative and exciting thing they've ever done. It's hysterical.

There making digital marketing history right here in Mississauga on Wednesday 24 May 2017 when Tweetsteria happens at Cagney's. I'll be there and I hope you'll join us.

Book now : https://singleinthecity.ca/events/tweetsteria/