Tweetathon 3: Another 64 Hours

Picture from @sadiexport

Where do I start?  The first Tweetathon in 2009 was special, the second was a personal mission but the 2011 edition was something else entirely.  All that emotion of the first was back, that feeling of Twitter being so much more than the some of its parts and the result is £4500 for Chapter 1 a charity who are not used to that kind of cash injection.

For the first time I had a wing man/woman for the whole time I stayed up.  @KyeLani  gave up four days of working to join me for the whole thing.  She didn't sleep a wink either.  Sarah you are just an amazing friend, without you here at the heart of it all Tweetathon would not have been the same.  Thank you so very much, love you loads mate.

On the second day we were joined by one of my first follows on Twitter.  I can't quite believe that @twosoups was here really.  Mate what can I say, you cooked, you cleaned, you kept us going that first morning before you even arrived and between you and Sarah you kept me thoroughly entertained.  Thank you for being here, it meant so much, love you loads mate.

So many of you sent me stuff, recorded AudioBoos or took silly pictures and every single one of those random acts of kindness helped to keep me and the team going.  Loads of you came to the house to be part of it and that meant the world to me.  Friday night was just amazing fun with my house more full than it's ever been, thank you all so much.

The live gig on Thursday night was brilliant to be a part of, go check out the Mother Ukers website for more on the band but massive thanks to @mashupsoldier for organising, it felt like the Tweetathon came to life for everyone else that evening.  I have the videos now and I'll get them posted up on here over the course of this week.

For those of you into the stats stuff, the @diaryofaledger account got over 10,000 interactions over the course of 64 hours and over the two accounts I tweeted 3,174 times.  That's around 50 tweets an hour.  I have no idea how you put up with that in your timelines but thank you so much, I honestly didn't see a single grumble.

Social Networking gets so much stick.  As per usual it is so easy to blame the worlds ills on what you don't understand but Twitter has changed my life, changed me if I'm honest and broadened my world like nothing else ever has.  Like real life, friends come and go, but at the heart of Twitter for me are a group of people that I genuinely love with all my heart.  I think you know who you are without me listing all your names and without you there could be no Tweetathon.

Thank you all for giving your time, your money and your support.  You have made me a very proud man.

Much love,

Gray xxx