Twitter Chats 101
by Stephanee Stephens
What IS a Twitter Chat anyway?
A Twitter chat is when people come together at a certain time to engage in a conversation around a particular topic. The topic is called a hashtag and is identified by using the # sign at the beginning to make it searchable.
Though people can use a hashtag to tweet about a topic at ANY time, during the set time of a chat (usually 60 minutes), users are asked specific questions that they answer and interact with other users' answers. For this class we are doing a 'slow chat' meaning we post all the questions at the beginning and interact/post and reply for an entire week rather than a limited 60 minutes. Each tweet for #itec9400 MUST have the hashtag included, so it shows up in the search feed for the hashtag.
https://youtu.be/q0OYSwAz8J8
Take part in our chat by entering #itec9400 in the search bar. Click "LATEST" when the results appear.
If LATEST isn't clicked, then only the tweets that have the biggest audience are shown.
Reply - Retweet- Like
- To like someone's tweet, click the heart symbol.
- To retweet someone's tweet, click the double arrow symbol.
- You can also quote a tweet when you click on the retweet symbol. This is a newer feature that allows users to see the tweet you are referencing. It's more authentic than a simple retweet because you are commenting AND retweeting.
- To reply to someone's tweet, click the single arrow symbol.
How to answer chat questions correctly:
- All chat questions begin with Q1, Q2, Q3, etc. This is so participants can identify which question is being asked.
- To answer Q1, begin your answer with A1. To answer Q2, begin your answer with A2. This format is repeated for each question.
- Be sure to have #itec9400 somewhere in each tweet, though most users put the hashtag at the end of a tweet.