Hello, I'm A Twitter-Controlled Christmas Tree

The Beeldboom (‘Image Tree’) is a remotely controlled Christmas tree reacting on tweets sent to him. The tree, which is located in a park in Amsterdam, illuminates each time a Twitter message is sent to @Beeldboom. A webcam streams the tree 24 hours a day on the website of the Christmas tree, and enables everyone to monitor the tree and to see for themselves how the tree is illuminated after he has received a message. Depending on the status of the Twitter search function, it will generally take 20 seconds for the interactive tree to illuminate. The Beeldboom is a concept by Amsterdam-based urban design and marketing office Golfstromen in collaboration with Come and will function as an interactive Christmas post card for the Dutch stock photo agency Beeldredaktie.

For those who do not have a Twitter account there is a button on the website sending an automated tweet when hit. The installation was built using an Arduino equipped with an Ethernet Shield. The microcontroller continuously searches Twitter for new tweets sent to @Beeldboom, and activates the tree’s lights when a new message has been found. Check it out, click here.

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