I am currently helping someone to prepare for guest hosting their first Twitter Chat at the end of this month (October 2018). I thought it would be helpful as part of that preparation to do a Twitter Chats 101 post to explain to Catherine and to use that material for a blog post as I am often explaining what they are to people new to them.
I have used the 6 standard questions you can ask of anything as my framework for this explanation.
WHAT
A Twitter Chat is a Twitter conversation that is hosted by one or more hosts in which 1 or more questions are asked over a 1-hour period each week using a specific hashtag. People around the world then respond to the question(s) and each other over that hour in the public part of Twitter.
A chat is effectively an online community that gathers around a specific hashtag.
Whilst most of the conversation takes place for that one hour each week, it is perfectly possible for conversation to go on all week on that week's questions or indeed any other related subjects relevant to the hashtag.
WHY
A Twitter Chat is a great way of discussing a specific subject with like-minded people around the world for an hour each week.
It is a great way of being reminded of what you know, should know, want to know as well as being given prompts to explore the subject and related subjects in greater detail.
Twitter Chats are also helpful for self-reflection e.g. what do I really think about this subject. Often, especially where multiple questions are asked over the hour, the speed of the chat is such that it is easy to give unguarded and uncensored responses that are a further spur to that self-reflection.
WHO
Given that Twitter Chats take place on Twitter, they are open to all Twitter users.
Some typical roles of people participating in Twitter Chats:-
- Hosts
- People who often started the Twitter Chat around a specific hashtag in the first place and co-ordinate and arrange for guest hosts, the programme of subjects to be covered each week and facilitate the chats each week.
- Guest Hosts
- People who arrange the question(s) to be asked in a particular week's chat and answer those questions in the chat along with the Participants as well as responding to any specific questions addressed to them.
- Participants
- People who tweet during chat including answering the questions posed that week and contributing to the chat generally by answering and asking other questions that are tweeted during the chat.
- Chat Curators
- People who curate the tweets from a particular chat some time after the chat has ended using a service such as Wakelet. See the Wakelet library of chats that I have curated.
HOW
Hosts and Guest Hosts ask the question(s) to be answered in a specific weekly chat. These are usually sent from a specific Twitter account for the chat. They can be sent live in Twitter or more usually by being scheduled using a service such as Tweetdeck. This allows those people to spend more time answering the questions themselves and engaging with the tweets from the other Participants.
Participants look for the questions as they get posted using whatever Twitter-related service they normally use e.g Twitter itself and answer the questions and engage with other tweets during the chat.
I personally use Twitter using a web browser with 2 tabs open - one for Notifications so I can see and respond to any Tweets referencing me and one with Search (Latest) results for the hashtag of the chat which I refresh from time to time during the chat. Other services can be used for this including Tweetdeck.
Where more than one formal question is asked by the Hosts/Guest Hosts, these are typically prefixed "Q1: " etc and Participants are encouraged to use the format "A1: " etc for their replies making sure they also use the chat hashtag so others taking part in the chat see the responses. When someone is simply making a comment unrelated to a question, it can just get tweeted with the hashtag.
After the chat, many Twitter Chats curate a set of the tweets from that specific chat and make the set available with a single link in a tweet including the hashtag.
WHEN
Twitter Chats usually run each week at the same time and on the same day each week. This means that time zones are a factor and impact which chatters can take part live.
WHERE
Twitter Chats take place on Twitter ...
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That ends the explanation but I would like to issue some “call to action”s.
- If you have never taken part in a Twitter Chat, why not find one related to a subject of interest to you and take part.
- If you have never hosted a Twitter Chat, why not offer to host one. Doing so is an ideal way of asking a set of questions you want answers to from a group of highly-competent people in your field from around the world.
- If there is no Twitter Chat for your subject, why not start one and see how you get on.
- If there are Twitter Chats for your subject but they run at times when you are unavailable, why not be a maverick like me and simply answer the questions on catchup when you are available.
If anyone needs any help to do any of this, let me know.
If anyone has any additional comments to make to add value to this post, I would be delighted to get it and add as appropriate.
Thanks Simon. This was very helpful! I haven't done a Twitter Chat before although I use Twitter. Sounds like next steps are defining Q1 and maybe Q2.
ReplyDeleteMy Prep for this session on Self Care:
ReplyDeleteThis is my summary of your Things To Do (Will do so. Should I tweet these answers?)
1. Send a picture.
2. Send a short half-Tweet sized bio of you for Twitter may be tailored for this chat including name, where you are located, role, organisation--That's very short! :
3. Define what I hope people will get out of it.
4. Prep pre reading. Send out a week ahead.
5. 1-2 Questions for the gang to answer? - They need to be Tweet-sized and allow for a "Q1 ", "Q2: " etc and the #SelfCareWeekly chat hashtag.
6. Pre Call to action / parting words.