What happens when you throw a festival for Twitter users? You get a Twestival of course; one that quenches the thirst of attendees, typically at a local pub, but also slakes the thirst of people in developing nations.

This week, like many thousands of people around the world, I went to my first Twestival. Amanda Rose (@amanda), an ex-pat Canadian in London, started Twestival almost by accident in early 2009. From the New York Times:

“Amanda Rose, the architect behind the multicity Twitter festivities, said Twestival grew out of a smaller get-together held in London … to benefit a local soup kitchen. ‘Originally, I thought it was going to be 30 people in a pub doing karaoke,’ she said. ‘But we ended up having 250 people show up.’ Ms. Rose said the London event ‘… planted the seeds for a much larger event, spanning several international cities.’”

According to Twestival.com, the February 2009 Twestival Global spanned 202 cities across the globe, attracted over 1,000 volunteers and 10,000 donors, and ultimately raised over $250,000 for @charitywater. That was enough to develop 55 wells in Uganda, Ethiopia and India, directly impacting over 17,000 people.

That wellspring of support led to a more localized return engagement later that year in September:

“ … over a weekend in September last year, 130 cities participated in Twestival Local which invited organizers to host events and select local causes to support. Collectively, these cities raised over $450k for 135 charities, bringing the total fundraising effort in 2009 to over $750k. A remarkable achievement by volunteers working under short timescales and utilizing social media tools like Twitter to make it happen efficiently.”

2010 sees Twestival turning its attention to a charity called Concern Worldwide (www.concernworldwide.org or @concern on Twitter) whose mission is “working with the world’s poorest people to transform their lives”. That’s what this week’s event was about.

Calgary organizer Lyn Cadence (@lyncadence) added an interesting twist to Cowtown’s version of Twestival. Local social media mavens were asked to submit a story or “case-study” for an eBook entitled “Social media by example” to be produced by @rapidbooks. Proceeds, of course, will go to @concern.

This event joins a growing list of social media philanthropy events, from @yyc4haiti (Calgary for Haiti), @yeg4haiti (Edmonton for Haiti), @CalgaryhelpsCHL (Calgary helps Chile), @12for12k (supports a wide variety of charities), and @sm4sc (which also supports a variety of causes).

As a child in the 1970s I had the remarkable opportunity to live briefly in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, where I witnessed first-hand how devastating poverty can be. The favelas (slums) were beyond anything we Canadians could have imagined. It forged in me a keen sense of empathy and caused me to be eternally grateful for the live we live in Canada.

As someone whose only water concern is whether it’s cold enough coming out the tap, I try to remind myself to do good here and there with my digital skills. My question to you is, with all this new publishing power social media brings to you, how will you change the world?

You could bring Twestival to Saskatoon, that would be a start.

As usual, send me your feedback on Twitter at @dblacombe or via e-mail doug@communicatto.com.

Doug Lacombe is president of communicatto.com, a digital marketing, investor and public relations agency.

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