Twestival: Live Aid 2.0

This Thursday, something incredible is going to happen:Twestival. Thought up by event producer Amanda Rose, Twestival is a unique global event that aims to raise $1m (£676,525) for charity: water, an organisation that provides access to safe, clean drinking water in developing nations.

This morning, Rose explained to us that Twestival will see participants in over 175 countries meet for an evening of merriment. She went on to tell us: "I saw a massive opportunity to use technology to organise a global event hosted on the same day. It showcases what the online community can do for social good. We're not just geeks behind computers."

Rose isn't part of a big charity organisation. In fact, she organised the event from her bedroom in a former school in London Bridge, and owns a battered old laptop. The whole event was organised through Twitter and with the co-operation of a few hundred people around the world who share a similar goal: to help people in need.

The core team is based in the UK and made up of Rose (@amanda), Jaz Cummins (@jazcummins), who heads Twestival's global PR, and Tony Scott (@tonys), who built the Web site. Impressively, Rose has never met Scott or the hundreds of people around the world who've helped to make this happen.

No-one is being paid for their efforts and all the Twestival proceeds are going straight to charity: water. In addition to ticket sales, Twestival is raising money in a variety of other ways, such as a T-shirt design competition (which has just finished). You can pre-order the winning T-shirt here. The top 100 donors to another initiative will get their Twitter username printed on the back of that winning T-shirt.

There's also a music initiative. Well known artists, including Imogen Heap, have donated songs to Twestival.fm that people can download for a fee of their choosing. Over 300 songs have been donated and all the proceeds from Twestival.fm go straight to the grand total.

If you'd like to get involved, you can donate money here or, if you're lucky enough to get a ticket, attend one of the many Twestival events around the UK, including those in Brighton, Dublin, Edinburgh, Manchester and Oxford. For more locations, visit the Twestival Web site, but be warned: tickets are going fast.

If you can't make it to one of the events, make sure to check out the Live Earth Web site, which will be streaming some of the events held in major cities. The video streaming is being set up by Brian Noonan (@briannoonan) from Noonan Media, another volunteer.

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