A Journey of a Thousand Miles Begins with One Tweet
Guardian writer Paul Smith has found a novel way to raise money for charity and test the power of social networking at the same time; he plans to Tweet his way around the globe in 30 days, using only transport and accommodation offered to him via Twitter.
Why? To see if it is possible of course.
Smith, aka @twitchhiker, plans to begin this extraordinary trek March 1, and continue as far as the goodwill of fellow Twitterers will take him. His goal is to travel as far away from his hometown in Newcastle upon Tyne, UK, and has estimated the closest landmass to be at 52.546° S 169.173° E, just off the coast of New Zealand. "An island barely five miles wide that's so insignificant that Google can't be bothered to name it," Smith notes on his about page.
There are five rules he needs to follow:
- He can only accept offers of travel and accommodation on Twitter from users who are following @twitchhiker - if none is offered, he'll be sleeping 'rough'
- He can't plan more than three days in advance
- He can only spend money on food and drink
- If he gets more than one offer, he can choose; if he only gets one he has to take it with 48 hours
- If he can't move on from a location in 48 hours, the challenge is over and he goes home
"Twitter is an infrastructure that facilitates a global conversation, a social club, a newswire, a group hug, a support network, a human search engine - all at once. And it's growing exponentially," Smith said recently, "Spend a while cultivating your Twitter account, and you could develop contacts in every timezone."
Smith's unusual adventure will begin on March 1. For more information, check out his site Twitchhiker or follow him on Twitter and watch this incredible social networking experiment unfold; we certainly will be.
If you want to join the RWW crew on Twitter, check out this slideshow of our accounts.
Image credit: Bickel
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Very interesting! I hope this gets attention! @anexemines
Amazing project! I believe in the Twitter community, Paul will complete his journey.
(if you pass by Montreal and have some time, come play a little tennis game with me @isaSuperstar ^_^)
Ugh. I started out really pumped about this idea:
http://twitter.com/nothingelseis/status/1170447565
http://twitter.com/nothingelseis/status/1170453974
But it's more than obvious now that Paul Smith cares more about Paul Smith's online profile than either the experiment or the charity he's piggy-backing on (albeit raising a good amount of dosh in the process). I wouldn't be surprised to find out that he's working on the book of The Twitchhiker's Guide to Cyberspace even now.
http://twitter.com/twitchhiker/status/1186088363
http://twitter.com/nothingelseis/status/1186099997
Wow this is an amazing concept, and I think he will get very far...
But I still don't get how exactly this will raise money?
Sounds retarded
very nice Journey of a Thousand Miles Begins with One Tweet
mIRC Thanks.
I've watched the video and there are enough clues there to demonstrate that Paul's motivation is 100% genuine. I'm not eliminating the possibility that the journey may do his career the world of good, but he still needs to prove his worth as a writer doesn't he!
Another charity project on Twitter is twittacause. They are trying to raise $1mm for charity. I just nominated my favorite charity to win.
www.twitter.com/twittacause
Another charity project on Twitter is twittacause. They are trying to raise $1mm for charity. I just nominated my favorite charity to win.
It's nice, I am learning, thank you
The image is great, you should sale it to NG.