It’s been a long time coming, and it’s finally here.

If you follow me on Twitter (), you’re probably familiar with my regular live-tweeting when I go to events. Some of these are regular events, like the monthly Social Media London meetups, while others are big conferences, events and sessions, like Social Media Week, iStrategy, and the Adobe Summit. What I do at those events is called “live-tweeting“. People often ask me what that is, and the best way to describe it is:

“The events I go to are matches and championships, I’m the sport commentator, and I do my job not on TV but on Twitter.”

I started live-tweeting without knowing what it was, and I’ve developed this skill over time. I’m still developing it as we speak. Besides live-tweeters, you also have professional tweeters (or pro-tweeters). These people tweet as part of their job – whether it’s freelance or full-time, whether it’s live-tweeting at events or tweeting on behalf of other companies. There’s no end to what a pro-tweeter can do, and it’s always refreshing to see other pro-tweeters like myself at work, getting the recognition they deserve. However, there currently isn’t any UK-based service that works as an association to connect businesses and brands with pro-tweeters, and as a hub for pro-tweeters to come together as a community.

This is why Glenn Lesanto () and I are launching the Association of Professional Tweeters (APT). The APT is an association of accredited professional live-tweeters, with high social influence and high standards in tweeting and content.

So, what is this all about?

The APT has 5 main aims.

• Identifying and promoting professional tweeters;
• Setting and maintaining the standards of professional tweeting;
• Providing a directory of accredited professional tweeters;
• Representing and supporting professional tweeters publicly;
• Providing courses and education for professional (and would-be professional) tweeters.

Is this for me?

The ATP is not only useful for those who are already professional tweeters, but also for those who are looking to be one, as well as event organisers who are looking to hire someone to live-tweet their next event(s). We’ll provide a directory on our site (coming soon) with a list of professional tweeters available, as well as a description of what a pro-tweeter does (just to clear any doubts). This way, event organisers can be sure to hire social influencers to take care of the live-tweeting on their behalf.

We’re having our first event/inauguration event on 7th October: protweet.eventbrite.co.uk If you’re interested, or would like to know more, come over on 7th October! We look forward to seeing you there.