A haiku is a form of Japanese poetry consisting of three metrical phrases of 5, 7 and 5 respectively. It’s an elegant and minimalistic form of expression, one that is perfect for something like Twitter. Which is why Twitter is hosting the first real-time haiku poetry competition, with judges Yoko Ono and poet Jackie Kay, picking the best verses from entries posted live on London’s Kings Cross’s biggest digital billboard.

The Traveling Librarian blog has an simple post on how to create a Twitter conference feed so as to share content and messages about the specific conference to others who are attending or not. It’s quite easy to do and very useful especially if you are the organizer for the conference and are placed in charged of media communications.

I would add that one should designate the hashtag beforehand and actively promote it along with the account via the official marketing literature. Perhaps the conference account can be included in a press release to be sent out to the media as well, should they be covering it. This might provide them a greater experience of the conference especially if they are not attending in person.

Twestival is a series of community gatherings featuring Twitter users worldwide on the 12th of February 2009. The goal of this is to bring together Twitter users locally for an evening of fun and also to raise money for charity.

Basically, what you can do is to check out the city sites listed on their mainpage and then participate in the specific event. Or you can donate directly to the charity or spread word of the festival (see the media kit) if you’re not attending.

This interview with Danielle Brigida, an Operations Coordinator for the National Wildlife Federation, gives us a general overview of how non-profits can use Twitter to generate support. She offers a golden piece of advice:

Start slow, listen and understand the space before you jump in. Don’t follow too many people initially–but follow people who share your interests or who are local to your area. Grow organically and be authentic. Talk to people like they are your friends, not like you are trying to advertise. I think the most important thing you can do is be real and ask for help when you need it.