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Social networking and connecting to new contacts and old friends on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter is terrific, but connections online don’t have to remain online.

You might develop that relationship through email, then a Skype call and may be even a meeting face to face.

At the IIA Congress recently it was great to meet people in person such as Ann Donnelly and Iarfhlaith Kelly who I had not met in person but who started as Twitter friends.

Increasingly people are meeting up with their virtual friends and in the case of Twitter this is called a ‘TweetUp’.

I recently came across a great site for organising a Tweet up called Twtvite.

Here is a screen shot of a Twtvite in action from Shel Holtz and Neville Hobson who are organising an event in June. Find the live link to the invitation here.

The application allows you to add details of the time and location of your Tweet up, a map, and has lots of social features such as being able to post the invitation to Twitter, FriendFeed and Facebook.

You can also see who is attending, add comments, see who has tweeted the event and add it to your calendar.

You can also grab the embed code and add it to your website or blog.

So the next time you are planning an ‘in person’ meet up of your Twitter Friends, consider using Twtvite. I am sure you won’t regret it. In fact the application looks so great, I just may have to organise a Tweet up soon to use it myself.