Two East Hawaii Events to Mark National Social Media Day

The Social Media Club Hawai’i will host two “tweet-ups” in east Hawaii on Sunday, June 30, as part of national Social Media Day.

Both events are free and open to the public.

The first tweet-up will be held from noon to 2 p.m. at the Maukamakai.me restaurant within the Hawaii Youth Business Center in Pahoa at the Woodlands Shopping Center. The restaurant will be holding its grand opening celebration on the same day.

A second tweet-up will be held later in the day from 3 to 5 p.m. in Liliuokalani Gardens, weather permitting, at a location by the big rocks across from Nihon restaurant.

“We want to show that we have a social media community here,” says Sylvia Dahlby, a Hilo resident and member of the Social Media Club Hawaii’s 2013 Board of Directors.

Dahlby said the event is a way for people who connect through social media sites, such as Linkedin, Twitter and Facebook to meet in person. Both events are informal talk-story sessions.

It is the first time such an event is being held in East Hawaii.

Laura Kinoshita, who is also a Social Media Club Hawaii board member, said the club has been looking to do a Hilo-based event for quite some time.

According to Techopedia, a tweet-up is an organized, in-person gathering of people on Twitter.

Tweet-ups are the opposite of how usual social media friendships start, where people meet in person, chat and become friends, and then connect over social media. On Twitter, users meet strangers online and, through a tweet-up, may become friends in person.

Attendees do not need to have a Twitter profile to attend; people interested in learning more about social media are also welcome.

According to Dahlby, the club wasn’t able to host a tweet-up in Kona as part of National Social Media Day because there are too few members in West Hawaii. But, she noted there’s a “small but growing number of social media pros and Social Media Club Hawaii members here on Hawai’i Island.”

Kinoshita added that the cub is always looking to add more events and hopes to hold an event in Kona in the future.

Social Media Club Hawaii will also hold a tweet-up on Oahu on Sunday and similar events are being held by other organizations around the country on the same day.

National Social Media Day was founded in 2010 by Mashable, an independent online news site that focuses on digital culture and technology.

Registration for either tweet-up is not required, although attendees can sign up for the Hilo event or the Pahoa event.