June 10, 2011
23 countries, over 1000 tweets – #WaterAid24 takes Twitter by storm
This week WaterAid became the first international development charity to host a 24-hour tweetathon in order to showcase its work around the world
WaterAid in Australia (
@wateraidaus
) started the tweets at 7p.m. Eastern Time on June 6, and WaterAid in America (
@wateraidamerica
) wrapped up at 7p.m. on June 7.
We wanted to show just how many layers go into our work to deliver safe water, sanitation and hygiene to some of the world's poorest communities.
Joe Downie, Website Manager, WaterAid
The aim of the initiative was to shine a spotlight on the many teams,
skills and areas of expertise that add up to the running of a
successful global charity, from water engineers in the field in Ethiopia
to internal auditors in India and Burkina Faso.
Tweet highlights included:
-
Mozambique: New taps provide safe drinking water for children in 2 primary schools in Maputo #wateraid24
-
Nepal: Nepalese gallows humour about a lack of water – 'God gave us the Himalayan rivers but not the pipes'
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Liberia: Had a meeting earlier today with the Public Works Ministry - they do not lavishly provision their meetings! #wateraid24
View more
selected tweets
from the day on Storify.
According to WaterAid's Website Manager Joe Downie: "Getting tweets
and twitpics in from all our offices on one day was a first not just for
us but for the sector.
"We wanted to show just how many layers go into our work to deliver
safe water, sanitation and hygiene to some of the world's poorest
communities and a wonderful byproduct was a genuine feeling of
interconnectedness between WaterAid staff the world over."
Clarence House – home of the Prince of Wales, WaterAid's President – was among the high profile retweeters of the
campaign.
The total potential tweet reach was estimated by digital specialists
The Rabbit Agency to be 1,147,759 and 1,111 tweets were issued under the
hashtag #WaterAid24 in total on the day.
-
See highlights of the day in pictures below: