A tweet chat happens in the middle of all the twitter frenzy. These organized group conversations discuss a specific topic and note the chat is part of that topic with a hashtag (#). People sharing an interest in a topic create these chats to discuss the various aspects of the topic. Some pose questions to the group and others build a dialogue around the topic.
So far, I’ve seen three types of Twitter chats:
- Pose questions for the group to answer.
- Bring in a guest speaker to lead the conversation.
- Open dialogue.
Some groups, especially the large ones like #journchat, have rules to help the chat move along smoothly. Smaller groups don’t struggle as much with tweets flying like crazy. Usually, the groups have a moderator — generally the person who started the group. Some bring in guest moderators to step in for the moderator.
You can weed out the rest of Twitterverse to view just the conversation on the selected topic using a Twitter chat tool. You can also enter the hashtag group (i.e. #journchat, #editorchat, #b2bmktgchat) into the Twitter search to find all the tweets on the topic and reply to those.
Now that you know how to follow along with twitter chats, join a chat.
How do you track twitter conversations?
And just when I thought I was semi Twitter savvy, along comes all of this. I downloaded TweetDeck a couple of months ago and had trouble getting it to work. So I abandoned it… for a rainy day.
I still have a relatively low following on Twitter (just over 200) and I’ve been able to manage comfortably. I’m not all that familiar with hashtags with the exception of #followfriday and haven’t actively participated in group chats.
There is a lot of great information here Meryl. This is worth saving for the day when I explore this topic further. Thank you.
Hi Meryl – I haven’t used Twitter for weeks. And I had no idea this was even possible. But I’m really behind the times. I still use Twhirl but the other applications you mentioned seem far more interesting.
@Davina, I used to keep up with everything — now it’s impossible. I wasn’t even early on the twitter thing.
@Cath, Twhirl is a great app. The others work better for chats and tracking many conversations.
See the next post for list of regular twitter chats.
Excellent post. Am linking to LitChat website now.
LitChat´s last blog post… Topic of the Week: All About Romance
How do you become a chat moderator and start a twitter chat? Could you email me and let me know please?
thanks, Judy
Judy Lederman´s last blog post… The New Fear Factor – LIFE!
To become a moderator, create a chat name for your chat and a twitter ID. Post in the twitter ID what the chat is about, when and what time. Tweet it to friends who are interested in the topic.
Anyone ready for the speech by our President?