Grand Central is hosting #Tweetups through August 4 (photo by twi-ny/ mdr)
Vanderbilt Hall, Grand Central Terminal
The Africa Center, 1280 Fifth Ave.
Through August 4, free
www.sharedstudios.com/tweetups
Twitter can be a den of iniquity, where both famous and anonymous people share their vitriolic thoughts on the world at large and specific individuals, starting at the very top with the current president of the United States, who is obsessively twitterpated with the social media site. Twitter seeks to change that in at least a small way with #Tweetups, in which Twitter users can speak with one another face-to-face in large-scale Skype-like meetings held in giant containers. One such container, labeled “What’s Happening?,” will be in Vanderbilt Hall in Grand Central Terminal through August 4, offering #Tweetups to passersby, who walk on a red carpet leading into the container, at the end of which is a giant screen connecting to people in other cities. There is also a screen at the Africa Center along Museum Mile.
A red carpet leads you into personal discussions with people around the world (photo by twi-ny/ mdr)
Admission is free, and there is no advance registration necessary. Presented in conjunction with Shared_Studios, “Tweetup Spaces” is happening in forty cities around the world; there is an hourly schedule available so you can choose what location you want to connect with. For example, on July 31 in Grand Central, you can hook up with tweeters in Gaza at 8:00 am, Dallas at 2:00 pm, and Melbourne at 10:00 pm and take part in “#HereWeAre: Celebrating Women around the World,” focusing on discussions involving such hashtags as #SheInspiresMe, #EffYourBeautyStandards, #YesAllWomen, and #EqualPay; on August 1 at the Africa Center, you can converse with people from Lagos at 11:00 am and London at 4:00 and hang around for “The Twitter Table: What’s Happening?,” a noon lunch connecting Harlem and Lagos, followed by a happy hour. Translators and conversation guides are on site to make sure things go smoothly. You can also watch on small monitors #Tweetups going on in other countries. Twitter a place to bring people together instead of tear them apart? What a novel concept!