If you’re on Twitter, you may or may not have heard of “tweet chats.” Before they begin, there’s some sort of messages floating through your timeline warning you of excess tweets, where and when the chat will take place, while you shake your head and wonder what it’s all about and if you should join the masses.
If you’ve never been a part of a tweet chat, it can all seem a bit overwhelming and a bunch of noise if not understood. While it can be a bit distracting from the usual flow of Instagram tweets, Foursquare checkins, and other stuff I’m sure you’d rather be paying attention to, a tweet chat can often be a great place to learn something new, make a few friends, and learn more about a business or brand that you’re following online. You might also gain new followers!
So what exactly is a tweet chat? A tweet chat is an organized chat held by a business, brand, or person about a topic of interest. It’s a way to get a large group together online at a certain time to discuss a topic via Twitter. A tweet chat is also assigned a hashtag. This hashtag makes it easy to follow the conversation and organizes the tweet chat so that others can follow and chime in if needed. The tweet chat is moderate by the organizer and a topic of conversation is assigned to be discussed.
For example, today, Viralheat will be hosting a tweet chat at 5pm PST. If you’re interested in talking metrics and analytics, join the conversation by using the hashtag #MetricsChat and get more info here.
If it’s your first time joining a tweet chat, you’re probably worried about how to filter out the noise from the rest of your timeline. Tools like tweet chat make it easy to sort your timeline and automatically insert the hashtag of your chat after each tweet. Or you can open a separate window on twitter.com with only the hashtag and follow along that way.
Once you join and especially if it’s your first time, don’t be afraid to lurk and just follow along until you get the hang of things. As soon as you feel comfortable, feel free to chime in, add your two cents, and ask questions. Twitter is a friendly community and everyone loves being part of a lively chat so the more the merrier but while you’re there also remember to respect the community. Just because you’re online doesn’t mean that you can over step your bounds and take over the conversation. Nobody likes an over zealous person that attempts to steers the conversation their way. If you’re frustrated about something, don’t vent during the chat. Keep the focus positive and lively and if you truly feel you need to voice something, contact the moderator after the chat.
Be mindful that during a chat all of your tweets, like any other time on any other forum, are all public so be mindful of what you share online and within the chat. The tweets with the tweet chat will be public on your timeline so be careful what chat you participate in and what you say.
Tweet chat can be an awesome way to learn something new and meet new people in the process. Have you ever been a part of a tweet chat? Share your experience with us and don’t forget to join us at 5PM PST on Twitter for our #MetricsChat. Hope to see you there!
