Wauwatosa Patch Columnist Invited to White House Tweet-Up

If Twitter were the lottery, Genevieve Vermeulen of Wauwatosa would have just won Megabucks.

The author of the was selected as one of 140 invited guests – the same as the number of permitted characters in a tweet – Wednesday at the White House for President Obama's first Twitter Town Hall.

Vermeulen said Tuesday afternoon she had booked her flight and was shaking with excitement at the prospect the national tweet-up.

"I was sunning myself on the beach last week, and of course following Twitter," Vermeulen said, "when I noticed a tweet from the White House asking folks to sign up for a chance to attend the first Twitter Town Hall tweet-up.

"I filled out the form on a whim, but now I am actually going to the White House! I will be sitting in the audience, live tweeting the Town Hall meeting, and afterward at the tweet-up, I get to meet with Administration officials and Jack Dorsey, a co-founder of Twitter."

Vermeulen said she had gotten a message from the White House – via tweet, of course – saying she had been chosen, but didn't get the final OK until Tuesday when she was again tweeted that she had passed a background check. Then she got a phone call with all the details.

The Twitter Town Hall is not all fun and games. The president's weighty subject is "jobs and the economy," and the idea of the tweet-up is to move the message strongly through social media as well as traditional media.

Vermeulen can't say how or why she was chosen – whether the selections were somewhat random or whether her responses on the form brought on the invitation – but she is among those known as "influencers" on Twitter. Vermeulen, whose Twitter name is @Einley, has more than 2,200 followers, has made 28,299 tweets, and is listed in 151 categories of news and interests.

A live stream of the Town Hall meeting will be broadcast at 1 p.m. Wednesday from the White House. The Twitter hashtag for the event is #AskObama.

"Please follow me on Twitter," Vermeulen asked. "Warning: I swear – and watch for updates my column this Friday detailing my experience!"