Twitter Tree © by pandemia

If you have been around twitter awhile you know what a hashtag is ( if not the # symbol followed by words or letters that link tweets from different individuals) it is pretty easy to get involved in twitter chats and twitter parties.

A Twitter Chat is when a group of people talk on Twitter using the same hashtag to link it all together.I recently started the #cdnmoney chat and to join the conversation, you Tweet what you want and add #cdnmoney to the end of it. It is a great way to network, learn and share what you know. My purpose with this chat is to have Canadians talking money. Now there are hundereds of other chats that do go on each week and the same rules basically apply.

To Follow the Chat – Please do not use the Twitter interface itself.Twitter chats can get very busy and generate hundreds if not thousands of tweets so use an interface such as Tweetchat .  You can also use Hootsuite or Tweetdeck, just make a separate column to follow the conversation.

Get a feel for the conversation. You can do so by lurking just reading what others are tweeting and when you are ready just jump into the conversation.

Use Replies Generously – Things go quite quickly  in a Twitter Chat, and if someone posts something you want to comment on, they may not notice your post. Hence, you need to use the @ symbol in spades. This puts your reply in the person’s mentions bar, making it easier for them to reply.

There are a few general rules you should follow when in a twitter chat or party. The biggest rule is Don’t spam your blog/website – Now if you have just written a post on topic to the conversation going on, or have a tool that could be useful please do share those links.

Otherwise, just use good old fashioned common sense. Be polite, share, and enjoy. Now I really do hope I see you as we talk money on Wednesday evenings from 7 to 8 pm EST on Twitter.