I spent an absurd amount of time wondering if the title rhymed. I decided that it does, so just bear with me.
It’s an universally acknowledged truth that a newbie in twitter will be undoubtedly in search of a way to make twitter chats seem less like this:
Because that was exactly how I felt when I joined my first Twitter chat. There were so many people sending out replies, and all these questions being asked at the same time, and I wanted to be able to do it all!
Twitter chats are tons of fun, but they can become stressing if you go about it the wrong way. Don’t get yourself down and only worry about making friends and socializing!
Use Tweetdeck, or a similar App
Seriously, I can’t stress this enough! Tweetdeck saves your life! Once I discovered it, I didn’t look back. It allows you to manipulate columns like notifications, the tweets for a particular hashtag, and your timeline to see them at the same time. This way, you don’t have to be going back and forth to keep track of everything!
This would be what you’d see on your screen.
Interact with people!
Normally, at Twitter chats, there’s one or two moderators that ask questions, introductions, ice-breakers… etc. Everyone goes running to answer as fast as they can, and then another question comes in, and you manage to favorite one or two tweets, and the cycle repeats, until you feel exhausted. Try to find a balance between answering the questions and actually replying to other’s answers. You can still share your POV this way, plenty of people will see it if you use the designated hashtag, and ALSO, you’ll be interacting with people! What good is it to manage to answer all the questions if you haven’t made any new friends?
Clear your Schedule
This one’s a given, but it’s worth mentioning anyway. Even with Tweetdeck, and being a pro at socializing, don’t try to do anything important while participating in a Twitter chat. True, the app makes it easier for you to not to miss anything, but still, if you’re trying to multitask, you’ll get distracted, and even overwhelmed, especially if a lot of people are participating.
Enjoy yourself!
Everyone wishes to be able to talk to every tweep on the chat, but it’simply not possible. So, don’t stress, take your time writting your tweets, and have fun! Follow some people who you’d like to keep in touch with. That is, after all THE, or one of the goals of hosting these chats.
I have to confess that, after almost three years of blogging, I’m STILL rather Twitter ignorant, and I’ve never participated in a chat. You’ve inspired me to join in, though!
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NO! NO WAY! You really should! You can go armed with Tweetdeck and slay that first chat XD
I really would not like to relive my first Twitter chat. It happened during my first three days on Twitter and I was still trying to figure out what a hashtag was. For some stupid reason, I though joining a Twitter chat would be a learning experience, but the only thing that I learned was how to get a massive headache in under ten minutes.
Now, I am competent with Twitter and I can hold my own in chats due to the help of TweetDeck. I also felt a lot better after I accepted the fact that I was not going to be able to reply to everything everyone said. It is just not possible and trying is just a surefire way to get a headache. Pick a couple of people to reply to and start real conversations with them instead of trying to have ten million conversations going on at the same time. I learned the hard way that you will never be able to keep up.
Thanks for the tips!
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I am actually someone who isn’t in too many tweet chats, but I want to be because people say Twitter is best for talking to people and not for promotion. But the trickiest part I am having trouble with is starting to engage in a lasting twitter chat. These are some good tips you have here, and when I have a few more started I am definitely going to use this ^.^
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Sure! There are always some going on, so you can practice. I also took a while getting the hang of them.
This is such a great post!! I actually just joined twitter about two weeks ago, and joined as many twitter chats as I could the first week (without having a single clue what I was doing). It actually almost gave me a headache and I was more stressed than I was enjoying myself because I was scampering around trying to figure out how to answer all the questions while also talking to other people and making friends. I think that GIF legitimately summarizes my first week on Twittter… Even when there wasn’t a Twitter chat going on I thought I needed to be on top of every single tweet every single person had posted and it was chaos… Thank you so much for sharing these tips and I will definitely try to find one of those apps since they sound like complete lifesavers when it comes to Twitter.
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Oh, really! Wlelcome to the Twitter world then! And you’re right, it’s not even just the chats! All Twitter is designed to be a conversation that never stops and every minute, you might miss something. But it’s all about taking it easy, and not worrying too much about individual tweets. If you didn’t see it, there’s no harm done! Chances are, you’ll come across it in one way or another should it be important enough. 🙂
I feel like I am just getting “good” at using twitter, both daily and chats. Without Tweetdeck I don’t think I could do a chat. I learned about it during Bloggiesta in the winter and it has been a life saver. I try to answer the question and then focus on one or two responder as you suggest. I also go back to the discussion later. Very helpful post, I found you through the Discussion Challenge.
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Thanks for dropping by! And yes! Totally, I could never go back to regular twitter chats now except if I’m away from a computer. Phone is a nightmare, though.