Proffitt, who is known among Alaska's Twitter users, has organized a majority of the local Tweetups.

"I feel a kinship with many of the people I meet online, especially those I choose to follow on Twitter, and organizing these events lets me pay back that community for the affinity I have for the group," he said.

Ryan Stanley said he also feels a kinship with people in Alaska's online community. Stanley, who lives in Juneau, said he uses Twitter specifically to connect with Alaskans. Although he has not been able to attend the Anchorage Tweetups, Stanley said he stays involved with the group by looking at photos and by reading posts about the events.

"For the largest state in the union, it is the smallest state in the union. It's, I guess, a kind of unique thing you get to have a community that is spread out over such a large distance," he said.

Stanley is a social media super user. Twitter, Facebook and FriendFeed are a few of many ways he stays connected. He uses Twitter to network with Alaskans, Facebook for national and international contacts, and FriendFeed to interact with his professional circle.

His social networks are linked, so that one post goes to a variety of people. On the morning of June 1, 2009, a series of posts went out that touched many of Stanley's followers.

"OMG. I'm standing here watching my house burn. Unbelievable."

"Stunned."

"Holy Crap."

"RIP Pink House."

Stanley posted these in the early morning hours as he watched fire destroy his home and everything inside. The fire, determined as intentionally set, originated in the laundry room of his neighbor's apartment-style dwelling on Basin Road, Fire Marshal Dan Jager said. Since then, Stanley, his wife, Laura Hosey, and 3-year-old daughter, Meadow, have been trying to rebuild their lives.

That's where Valette McLay of Anchorage comes in. McLay and Stanley have never met in person, but follow each other on Twitter. That is how she found out about the fire.

"I went through a service that separates Twitter users by location and added a bunch of people from Juneau, including Ryan, so that the next time I was in Juneau for work I could maybe set up a Twitter meet-up. Not long after, he twittered about his house being on fire," she said.

McLay uses Twitter to communicate with loved ones, to meet new people and to share common interests. Baking is one of those interests. Turns out, many of McLay's Twitter followers are also avid bakers. What started as an exchange of tweets about cupcakes and other baked goods ended with a collective idea among several local Twitter users to have a bake sale in Anchorage to raise money for Stanley and his family in Juneau, McLay said.

McLay asked Proffitt to help publicize the event on AlaskaTweets.com. Another volunteer took the initiative to create an event page on Facebook. Through the efforts of McLay, Proffitt and several others in Anchorage's Twitter community, nearly two dozen people have stepped up to help with the event so far.

"It was just one of those spur of the moment things," McLay said. "A lot of people just loved the idea and they jumped in on it. It's just one of those things that snowballed."

There was still one detail. What about a venue? Annie Ciszak, owner of Bella Boutique, has personal and business Twitter accounts. Both are active on the feed. That is how she caught wind of the need for a venue and offered up her space.

"I thought why not, let's do this thing. It's a lot of the same crowd that likes to come in and shop as well as likes to bake things, so let's put them all together," she said.

Business owners such as Ciszak view Twitter as a valuable platform to build a community and to be a part of a conversation among customers. This is one reason why an increasing number of Alaska business owners are interested in joining the local online community.

Kristen Lindsey, owner of Apokrisis, a Web design and Internet marketing firm, said she has seen increased inquiries from a variety of businesses ranging from law firms to those in the health care industry.

There are an estimated 6 million registered Twitter users in the United States alone and that number is expected to jump to around 18 million users in 2010, according to eMarketer, a research firm.

Lindsey said it is hard to pinpoint an exact number of Twitter users in Alaska. Her research shows more than 2,000 people in Alaska have public accounts on Twitter, more than 1,000 in Anchorage.

"What we are really starting to see especially in the last two or three years is that local businesses whose markets are right here in Anchorage or right here in Alaska are recognizing that there is enough critical mass of customers online, where they are starting to really focus on using the online channel to either reach new customers or to compete," Lindsey said.

For Stanley, social media isn't about business or competition or getting ahead. It's been a tool for him to share intimate details about a life-changing event and to call out for help. A call answered by Anchorage's Twitter community.

"I think it is really neat that social media is there for us at this time," Stanley said. "It is nice that this story can see light and people can see that it is not just a toy, that it has real life implications because right now we are hoping to be able to build a house and get back on our feet."

Tasty Tweets is scheduled for Aug. 29 at Bella Boutique from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m.