Twitter Chats are a great resource for business or fun. There are just a few things to know ahead of time so here are some tips for attending a Twitter Chat:
These real-time chats are a great way to connect with peers and others who share your interests. You can also use them as a tool in building your business by finding your target audience and learning what they are talking about or looking for help with.
Groups hold chats to share information, interview guest speakers, discuss new resources and more. Chats also spring up around specific events: teleseminars, conferences, etc. There are hundreds of Twitter Chats held on a regular basis in the Twitter world. Take a look at them through this Google document: http://bit.ly/chatsched You are bound to find a few that will interest you!
Moderators run the chat and usually ask guest “speakers” questions in tweets. Then the guest speaker will respond with answers in their tweets. For example, if you are attending a chat about Blogging (#blogchat is a great one on Sunday evenings!), a typical question and answer tweeting session might look like this:
The @moderator types the following tweet for Question 1:
@guestspeaker Q1: What is the best platform for blogging? #blogchat
Then the @guestspeaker would respond with Answer 1 by tweeting something like:
@moderator A1: WordPress.org is the best platform for any type of blog. #blogchat
Putting the hashtag and name of the chat in each tweet keeps all related tweets search-able by the chat name (#blogchat).
You can participate in the chat by retweeting questions and answers or adding a comment if it’s relevant.
[Update #1, 5/29/13] – TweetChat is set to shut down on June 11, 2013. OneQube has created SmartStream to replace it. Click Here to sign up for SmartStream.
The pace of tweets during a chat can be somewhat overwhelming until you get the hang of it, so you may want to use a free tool: TweetChat (it’s not necessary to “sign in”). Simply type in the name of the chat and you will see in real time only those tweets that have the #chatname in them.
If you use a dashboard like Hootsuite, you can also set up a stream for each chat you attend and follow the conversation that way.
[Update #2] – A new account on Twitter #TheChatDiary @TheChatDiary sends out Tweets that let you know about current Twitter Chats. The account is based in the UK but is also tweeting about US-based chats.
Twitter Chats are a fun way to make connections, learn something and improve your Twitter skills! Choose a few chats from the Google document to attend this upcoming week and let me know if you find any good ones for social media or small business!
About Terry League