Its aim is to continue the wonderful work started at last year’s inaugural Tweetsgiving, where a classroom was built in Tanzania. You can read the full story of Tweetsgiving here. This year, the event is being taken to another level with a far loftier goal, but the message remains the same – changing the world through gratitude.

So here’s my take.

Gratitude is a state of mind and an emotion of being. It’s a constant. It’s the knowledge that no matter what, you have a network around you to keep you going, even in your darkest times. Friends; family; loved ones; colleagues; even virtual strangers online that have somehow become some of the most important people in your life.

It’s never giving up, because you’re thankful for the lessons learned even when failing. It’s acknowledging your weaknesses; your frailties; your mortality, and loving yourself for it. It’s about recognizing the same faults in others yet loving them for it as well.

It’s about genuine emotion. Raw, down-to-the-core emotion with no barriers.

Gratitude is all about the word it shares much of its letters with – attitude. We can choose to be ignorant. We can choose to be negative. We can choose to be naysayers, and put people down.

But that’s easy. Anyone can do that, and do it well. Gratitude, though? Full, 100% gratitude? That comes from the attitude of complete untethered belief that the world around us, the world of us, is a good place. Or can be.

That’s what’s happening over these 48 hours between November 24-26 2009. People with good hearts – with grateful hearts – making a statement. Drawing a line in the sand. Planting their placeholder and saying, “I’m grateful.”

That’s where change lies. That’s where real gratitude and honest hearts lie, and I’m grateful that we’re a living part of that.

This post was created as part of a global groundswell of gratitude called TweetsGiving. The celebration, created by US nonprofit Epic Change, is an experiment in social innovation that seeks to change the world through the power of gratitude. I hope you’ll visit the TweetsGiving site to learn more, and to bring your grateful heart to the party by sharing your gratitude, and giving in honor of that for which you’re most thankful.

photo credit: TheAlieness GiselaGiardino²³

Gratitude is Simply Attitude originally appeared on Danny Brown | Social Media Marketing Blog - The Human Side of Media and the Social Side of Marketing under a Creative Commons license.

I just wanted to update you with a few little tidbits of information that you may (or may not) be interested in. So, feel free to class this post as useful, semi-useful, not really useful or useless – the choice, as always, is yours. So… off we go.

SxSW 2010 Panel Nomination

The South By South West festival (SxSW) in Austin, Texas, has undergone several changes over the years. Starting out as a music festival back in 1987, it added film and interactive elements to the line-up in 1994. The interactive aspect (SxSWi) has seen the annual event become one of the most influential for all things web, social media and more.

Next year could see yours truly speaking at SxSWi. Joined by Amy Sample Ward, Danielle Brigida, John Haydon, Rob Reed and Stacey Monk and hosted by Mark Lovett, we’ve suggested a panel to discuss the following question: Can Social Media Change Global Consciousness? While social media has been used for great individual causes, can it actually help effect a global and long-term change in mindset?

The suggestion has been accepted by the SxSWi planners and now it’s the voting period. This is where you can come in (if you wish).

Although you could say I’m biased, I think it could be a great panel with a very timely discussion. If you agree, and would like to find out more, you can pop over to the SxSWi Panel Picker page for our panel and offer it a thumbs up (although you do have to register to do so). Voting is open until September 4 – we’d love to see you there and your vote would mean a lot (if you like the idea).

Coming to a City Near You (Well, Maybe!)

Speaking of Stacey Monk and her Epic Change team, if you’re in Orlando, Florida on the weekend of September 5-6 (the day after SxSWi voting closes, ha!), maybe we can hang out for some beers on Saturday night?

I’ll be in Orlando to meet up with Stacey and Epic Change to discuss the 12for12k and Tweetsgiving collaboration this November. There are some very special plans taking shape to make this an amazing global event and that September weekend will see these plans start to take shape. So, if you’re in Orlando and want to hook up, leave a comment (or connect on Twitter if we aren’t already) – be great to chat and chill in the flesh, so to speak.

And that’s the end of the announcements – hope I didn’t bore you too much, and here’s to SxSWi and Orlando!

photo credit: huggingthecoast.com food blog

Bite-Size Morsels originally appeared on Danny Brown | Social Media Marketing Blog - The Human Side of Media and the Social Side of Marketing under a Creative Commons license.