A few months ago we wrote about the growing number of Twitter-focused conferences that are taking place around the world. Many were informative, with thought-provoking and compelling insights made by VCs, pundits and entrepreneurs. At Jeff Pulver’s 140 Characters Conference in New York in June, Twitter investor and VC Fred Wilson expounded on Twitter as a power-distributor of passed links. Of course, this particular conference was not without glitches, as noted eloquently by TechCrunch’s Paul Carr.
It looks like the trend of Twitter conferences is growing, with more events popping up around the country. As we’ve said in the past and will continue to say, there are tremendous opportunities for businesses, brands, non-profits and individuals to use Twitter as a tool for customer support, fund raising, brand management, advertising, job search and much more.
Twitter continues to grow at a steady rate and is mulling over different ways to monetize. There was some light shed on possible revenue streams during the whole Twitter document leak fiasco. And Twitter recently made a move to engage businesses by launching “Twitter 101,” a how-to guide for how businesses can best use Twitter.
Whether Twitter will successfully monetize its platform is yet to be decided but one thing is for sure: conference coordinators around the country are banking on the buzz. Here are the ones we found taking place over the next few months:
TWTRCON DC 09: Taking place in Washington D.C. on Oct. 22, TWTRCON focuses on discussing how to use Twitter as a business platform, paying particular attention to use by non-profits and government agencies. Speakers include Craig Newmark and Scott Harrison, from Charity:Water, which wrote about here.
140/Twitter Conference LA: Endorsed by Twitter co-founder Biz Stone, this conference, which takes place on Sep. 22 in Los Angeles, features a roster of celebrities and tech stars to talk about ways to tap into the real-time web via twitter. Panelists and speakers include Stone, Jaime Kennedy, Tony Hawk, Veronica Belmont and Dr. Drew.
140 Characters Conference: Organized by Jeff Pulver, this conference had its first stop in New York City in June. 140 Characters will be taking place in Los Angeles on Oct. 27 and like its sister conference, will address Twitter’s disruption of social media and look at microblogging’s effect on businesses, brands and advertising. Panelists include Jason Calacanis, Dave Winer, and Billy Bush.
Cool Twitter Conferences: This is a roving conference that makes stops accross the country, aimed at advertising and marketing professionals and entrepreneurs who want to leverage Twitter’s real-time and viral platform. It seems to targeted towards those who are newbies to Twitter and want to learn some of the basics. Future stops include San Francisco and Boston.
If there are other Twitter conferences taking place in the near future, let us know in the comments.