At an Original Joe's restaurant in Old Strathcona, people from all over Edmonton gathered last fall to raise money for a youth emergency shelter. It was all part of Twestival, a global fundraiser that originated in London, England, and currently has 200 participating cities. At Edmonton's second Twestival of the year, guests have just one thing in common: In whatever field of work they're in, they use the social networking tool Twitter to extend their reach.

The attendees at Edmonton's Twestival represented a range of young and old Edmonton professionals. Mack Male, or @mastermaq [1], who organizes the local event as well as similar and more frequent engagements called Tweetups, refers to these people as Edmonton's Twitter Community. At the event, guests are recognized by nametags labelled with their handles, not by their faces.

One person there was @bingofuel [2], or Adam Rozenhart, co-founder of Dub5 Networks and the popular blog, Oilersnation.com. Through a donation campaign advertised on his Twitter account, he raised enough money to send a writer to the NHL draft last year. His story is just one example of how locals are using the social networking tool to enhance their business dealings.

Nobody denies that Twitter is far from intimate. It merely allows for information to be shared efficiently, and only to those who want it, and those who check their updates frequently. Many of its critics have dismissed it as a passing fad, pointing to a study by Nielsen Online last year that found 60 per cent of users quit using it within a month.

A fad or not, millions are hooked, and among them are some of Edmonton's most respected figures such as @doniveson [3], @lyndasteele [4] and @hallsy_ched [5]. For those who don't speak the lingo, that's City Councillor Don Iveson, Global TV anchor Lynda Steele and sports announcer Bryan Hall.

Since Twitter started up in 2006, Alberta's Twitter community has become the third largest in the country, with over 26,000 registered users, however, the number of active users is less than half. Granted, many of these users are people like little Betty Sue from Clareview, who wants the world to know that her Orange Julius is the best orange juice she's ever had. But Twitter members also include the City of Edmonton, sending out traffic reports; the Alberta Food Bank, tweeting special announcements; and the United Nurses of Alberta, who have used Twitter lately to take shots at the Progressive Conservative party.

"It sort of makes the city feel smaller," says Male. Along with organizing events, and carrying many other roles, he's also the author of a locally focused blog [6] that made him Edmonton's unofficial online authority. "I think at the same time it's really one of the tools that drives the ability for you to talk directly to your city councillor, or the people giving you the six o'clock news."

Male's success as a blogger and software developer is in part a result of social networking through sites like Facebook and Twitter. He believes that, more than any other technology, Twitter blurs the line between social and business networking, creating what he calls "continual relationship-building and cultivation" - meaning a place where people cultivate relationships over time.

Lynda Steele, whose instant messages are subscribed to by 2,700 followers, says: "I realized there's a really cool, intelligent group of people on Twitter. There's a real sense of community, and I've already interviewed a ton of people from Twitter that I either didn't know, or knew of but wasn't in contact with before."

Similar to Twestival, Edmonton Tweetup is another partnering event, organized every few months at venues throughout the city. Invitations for Tweetups are sent via Twitter. Obviously, if Twitter users are crossing the threshold from cyber space into public space, it shows Twitter's 140-characters-at-a-time speak only goes so far when trying to communicate. But "what Twitter allows you to do is meet and talk to these people after the fact," Male explains. "Twitter is particularly good at bringing people together across the city."

Twitter has its detractors, and not just people dismissing it as a trend. Some are concerned because any tweet posted is cached in Twitter's internal search engine, and is therefore on the Internet forever. The danger is that humans are fallible, so when mistakes are made on Twitter, they're irreversible. It was a lesson learned by MLA Doug Elniski, whose off-handed tweets regarding the Edmonton Pride Parade ("i am surrounded by bumping and grinding lesbians wait 20 then send help [sic]") raised the ire of Edmonton's queer community. Further digging into his Twitter feed and blog revealed more sexist and chauvinistic remarks, leading many in the country to wonder if he even deserves a seat in the Legislature, let alone a Twitter account.

"Obviously, you've got to be careful, but it's an interesting tool for holding people to account," says Rozenhart.

Lesley Primeau, assistant program director for 630 CHED and iNews 880, has no Twitter name. She won't get anywhere near social networking sites. "I think [using social networking] has the definite risk of being a mob mentality ... I find it almost offensive that people get onto these sites, and make dates and change lives without having ever met any of these people."

As for the criticism that Twitter is just a generational fad, soon to go the way of the Palm Pilot, Male disagrees. "I think it's going to continue and we're going to get a lot more of the public faces in the city to use Twitter, which will drive up the number of average users, too."

Mack's 10

Avenue Edmonton was admittedly late getting on Twitter, but now that we've set up @AvenueEdmonton [7], you follow our instant announcements on contests, new articles and upcoming events. Since we're new to it, we asked Mack Male: What are the best 10 accounts for new local users to follow? @mastermaq [1] @davecournoyer [8] @britl [9] @jdarrah [10] @CityofEdmonton [11] @edmontontweetup [12] @theedmontonian [13] @edmontonjournal [14] @edmontonstories [15] [16]@EPLdotCA [16]