I have watched the book Twitterville, How Businesses Can Thrive in the New Global Neighborhoods Shel Israel’s newest book grow from the time Shel Israel “tweetsourced” it with case studies from businesses using Twitter – getting both companies and customers contribute to the book .

In a post on Global Neighbourhoods Shel Israel announced tBASH, the Twitterville book launch party will be held from 4-8 pm, Sunday, Aug. 23 at the Hiller Aviation Museum, San Carlos CA. The first 300 copies of Twitterville by Shel Israel will be on sale, ten days before it becomes available at most places that sell books. Shel’s Announcement :

At about 9 am Pacific tomorrow morning I will open [currently closed] signups to anyone via twtvite. Space is limited to 250 people for now, and at this moment there are 160 open spaces.

I will announce when signups go public on Twitter and then it will be first-come, first registered. You need to enroll with a Twitter handle. If you are bringing a guest who doesn’t have one, use your own a second time and add the word “guest.”

Network Solutions is a sponsor and I am excitedly looking forward to attending. Follow @shelisrael to see when he announces the signups and hope to see you there.

Not too long ago I wrote about Connor, a 10 year old entrepreneur, who decided that he wanted to take his annual fundraising of selling popcorn to a new level. Shashi, our Social Media Swami asked me to come up with a plan to help Connor.

I decided to introduce him to the world of social media marketing & word of mouth! Here is what Connor did on his own:

• The Problem

Connor realized that there are many hungry children in our world.

• The Vision

He decided he wanted to partner with the food bank & make a difference. Connor decided to put a twist on his fundraising.

• The Execution = www.PopcornForKids.org

Using Network Solution’s WebBuilder Image Cafe software to create a website for people to purchase popcorn for the hungry children.

• The Dream

Connor’s goal is to give each of the 35,000 hungry children in the US a tin of popcorn.

A Winning Combination

Network Solutions is matching donations up to $500!!!

So your contribution will be doubled. Help Connor achieve his dream.

You are also helping Connor learn about the power of Social Media & word of mouth.

How else can you help? Blog it, spread the word on Twitter by changing your picture to popcorn.

How to change your photo in Twitter:

Click on Settings | Picture Tab | Browse to your image & Save

(take a screen shot of popcorn & save it to use – here is the one we’re using in Flickr)