Waterstone’s last week conducted its first ‘Tweet-up’ - a real-life meeting organised via social networking site Twitter - and revealed plans to hold more around the country.

The bookseller, one of the first retailers to conduct a Tweet-up, invited its followers on Twitter to meet at its flagship Piccadilly store in London.

It organised the event to celebrate reaching 10,000 Twitter followers and gave just a few days’ notice.

About 30 people turned up to the Waterstone’s Tweet-up, according to the retailer, which gave all attendees a copy of the new novel The Passage by Justin Cronin.

A Waterstone’s spokesman said the Tweet-up attracted “really enthusiastic people who like the brand”.

He added: “It’s a way of connecting with the customer. Twitter isn’t too corporate, it’s very irreverent. We’ll definitely do another, somewhere other than London.”

Waterstone’s is among the first retailers to use Twitter in this way.

In November department store Selfridges hosted a Tweet-up alongside shoe brand Jimmy Choo.

Charlie Osmond, managing director of social media agency Fresh Networks, helped organise the Selfridges and Jimmy Choo Tweet-up, and said they can be beneficial as they are “very easy to organise” and can boost sales.