Lethbridge tweeps take online relationships outside the Twittersphere
Erin Chase went to her first Tweet Up in 2016, and she was hooked.
Now, Chase is a co-organizer of the event #YQLTweetUp, being held in Lethbridge Saturday evening, and is expected to see southern Albertan tweeters meet-up in real life.
She said she's met many people on Twitter who she's clicked with, and was hoping to bring those connections to life.
"I wanted to organize a get together where people could could meet up from all around Southern Alberta and they could feel safe in a public environment," she said.
Chase held another TweetUp in September that saw a group of three dozen people from Lethbridge, Stavely, Calgary and Red Deer attend.
"You form these friendships online and some seem, not superficial, but there's not as much depth as there could be until you meet in real life," she said.
Chase said they had a few drinks, chatted about common interests they'd discovered while communicating online — and poked fun at one member's alleged "man-bun."
Co-organizer Jenn Ward started attending Tweet Ups a couple of years ago and enjoys the way an online friendship can evolve after meeting in person.
"I've actually been meeting people that I've met online since about 2001 and one of them was in my wedding party, another one I call her my best friend now, and a lot of these other people we even go to brunch together on the odd occasion," she said.
Despite "horror stories" often shared about bad social media meet ups, Chase said she's never had a bad experience with folks she's befriended online and met in person.
"I've never met anybody who bothered me," she said. "They're all really nice, down to earth, and it's just really nice to meet a new batch of people."
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