Ever had a topic you were burning to discuss with like-minded, anonymous people, but weren’t quite sure where to go to get your talk on? Consider joining a Twitter chat!
Twitter chats are an ideal way to connect with others in real time, and a great means of expanding any young professional’s social network. Folks from all over the world gather online at a specified time to confer on a topic of interest that can be tracked via a given #hashtag.
There’s a chat for everyone out there in the Twitterverse: everything from a #bakechat to a #careerchat to a #SportsPRChat (a complete list of existing Twitter chats and times can be found and edited by anyone here).
Why join a Twitter chat?
So now that you know what a Twitter chat is, you might be wondering: what exactly are the benefits of participating? There are many! Among the most important:
- Twitter chats are a great networking tool.
- They’re a brilliant way for entrepreneurs to promote their business and connect with followers.
- Chats can be lots of fun! There’s no telling which brilliant minds you might meet, or what useful things you might learn.
A few insider tips
So, how can you make the most of a Twitter chat experience? Try these tricks:
- Find a chat tool to help you monitor the Twitter hashtag you’re following. This lets you isolate the chat from your regular Twitter stream, and allows you to better focus on the discussion at hand. Some popular tools you can experiment with are: TweetChat, TweetGrid, Twubs, and Monitter.
- Obey the hashtag! As a participant in a given chat, you’ll be expected to include the appropriate tag with each tweet you make in order to help keep the conversation running smoothly.
- After the chat, follow on Twitter any users you found to be particularly interesting or inspiring. The chat might be over, but the conversation doesn’t have to end there! Reach out, and start building valuable relationships.
