Tweeting a little holiday spirit

Since we’re still knee-deep in that festive week between Christmas and New Year’s – and because the top-10 lists of 2010 social media wins and fails keep rolling in – here’s one social media story to bring a smile. While us Lawrence folks have been enjoying a mostly pleasant winter so far, London has been pretty well socked in with the worst winter it’s seen in some 40 years. While for many it’s merely inconvenient, the low temperatures and heavy snows have been literally life-threatening for London’s homeless and at-risk population.

With that in mind, creative digital marketing agency Saint London and creative agency RKCR/Y&R created the Twitter Knitter project. The premise was pretty simple: Tweet a holiday message, use the hashtag #warmupcamden (the borough of London on which the project concentrated) and hope that your maxim makes the cut for being knitted into a warm holiday scarf. (The site puts it well: “We’ve combined one of the latest technologies – Twitter – with one of the oldest – knitting – to create Twitter Knitter.”) The finished scarves were then handed out on the streets of Camden to rough sleepers, construction workers and others who looked, well, cold. Others were sold in local thrift stores to raise cash for related causes. Tweeters who submitted winning messages were notified via tweet and invited to watch via live webcam their scarf being made.

Want to see the highlights, including some of the winning tweets? There’s a video here. And with almost 365 days left until next Christmas, any ideas for turning tweets into community assistance at a local level for next winter’s holiday season? (After all, we may not be so lucky with the weather next winter!) Let us know in the comments. And happy New Year!

Tweeting a little holiday spirit

Since we’re still knee-deep in that festive week between Christmas and New Year’s – and because the top-10 lists of 2010 social media wins and fails keep rolling in – here’s one social media story to bring a smile. While us Lawrence folks have been enjoying a mostly pleasant winter so far, London has been pretty well socked in with the worst winter it’s seen in some 40 years. While for many it’s merely inconvenient, the low temperatures and heavy snows have been literally life-threatening for London’s homeless and at-risk population.

With that in mind, creative digital marketing agency Saint London and creative agency RKCR/Y&R created the Twitter Knitter project. The premise was pretty simple: Tweet a holiday message, use the hashtag #warmupcamden (the borough of London on which the project concentrated) and hope that your maxim makes the cut for being knitted into a warm holiday scarf. (The site puts it well: “We’ve combined one of the latest technologies – Twitter – with one of the oldest – knitting – to create Twitter Knitter.”) The finished scarves were then handed out on the streets of Camden to rough sleepers, construction workers and others who looked, well, cold. Others were sold in local thrift stores to raise cash for related causes. Tweeters who submitted winning messages were notified via tweet and invited to watch via live webcam their scarf being made.

Want to see the highlights, including some of the winning tweets? There’s a video here. And with almost 365 days left until next Christmas, any ideas for turning tweets into community assistance at a local level for next winter’s holiday season? (After all, we may not be so lucky with the weather next winter!) Let us know in the comments. And happy New Year!