Twitter chat

Have you taken part in a Tweet chat yet? I haven’t had a chance to get involved in one for a few months. Since I enjoyed them when I was involved before, I was delighted when I heard about #oxhour which takes place on a Wednesday evening from 8pm to 9pm. It was started by Joy and David McCarthy @wordright and @webright – Banbury based website design / copywriters.

So what happens in a twitter chat? Basically a whole heap of people come together for a chat which all happens around a particular hashtag – in this case #oxhour. Chats work best when the moderators suggest topics to discuss. I joined part way through, but the topics I saw were “Do we use Social Media too much” and “Anyone able to value business gained through Twitter” – both valid discussions.

The speed of conversation on a Twitter chat is rapid and you do have to be on your game to keep track with what is going on. It also works best when people don’t just talk about their services and try to sell – but like anything on Social Media, ask questions, add value and if possible keep on topic.

You can follow the hashtag using twitter.com or any of your normal Social Media management tools (HootSuite, Tweetdeck, SproutSocial, etc). However I always use www.tweetchat.com, a free tool which allows you to follow a hashtag and automatically adds the hashtag to all your tweets. Makes it slightly easier to follow and there is less typing required! Tweetchat also allows you to change the font of the tweets so you can see more on a screen, change the refresh rate and pause when it really gets out of control.

I really enjoyed the #oxhour tonight – met some fantastic, interesting business owners who I probably would never meet under usual circumstances. I have followed everybody I can and look forward to listening and learning from them in the future.

If you get a chance, do give a chat on Twitter a go – it is well worth the time. Can you share your experiences?