London was bustling last night as the Twitterati attended London Twestival: a global series of charity events run 100% by volunteering staff that brings people together offline for a great cause. This year all profits from the London event will be donated to Childline – a charity arm of the NSPCC.

Twestival is a great example of how social media can be utilised to create online word-of-mouth that has a direct impact offline; in this case on the number of attendees. Promoted almost exclusively via Twitter, people are kept up-to-date via the @LDNTwestival Twitter stream. This leads to retweets from the event’s 3,700+ followers and helps to spread awareness of the event online. There’s also a Facebook group and the event has received widespread coverage on blogs and in forums.

There’s a great deal of value to be had from attending the event. Not only do you get to support a charity in a more interesting way than simply giving a donation, Twestival is a great opportunity to meet with a community of technology and social media early adopters and other influential people.

Kaizo was right in the heart of the action, enjoying the variety of entertainment and tweeting into the early hours!