I participated in my first two Twitter Chats this past week. Although I've been on Twitter for quite a while, this format was new to me. I spent about the first 20 minutes just lurking, trying to follow the conversation. I was using Tweetdeck, and it was challenging to have all of the tweets just fall in as they occurred. I was a little overwhelmed trying to follow along, but I did jump in and contribute after a while. I tried to be sure to reply to the two people who replied to my tweets. There were 4 moderators, who were very good at replying to people and tweeting/retweeting the questions so that folks didn’t miss it. I thought they did a great job of keeping the conversation going.
The second chat I participated in was even more chaotic than the first - I think that the moderators in this chat functioned more as participants, more interested in sharing their expertise than in moderating the conversation. It was during this second chat that I recognized the skills of the moderators in the first chat! I imagine it is challenging to get moderators who are passionate about a topic and want to share, but who also have the skills to turn it into a conversation in a complex medium.
The day after one of these chats, I was on a conference call with some colleagues spread throughout the state. Before the meeting, one noted that she had seen me in the twitter chat, and another said I must be passionate about the topic since I participated so much. What went through my head is that neither of them had posted anything, and I had no idea they were on the chat! Each noted that they were not big fans of the twitter chat format, but followed that particular chat because many statewide “voices” participate. Oddly, that's exactly the conclusion I had come to.
I find the format of Twitter Chats challenging - it's like being in a crowded room where most people are interested in shouting out answers to questions, and sometimes they turn to each other to respond. I wonder what the ratio is for participant to lurker in many of the chats.
#CAedchat shared this video about how to be a Twitter Chatter - I think it has some really helpful tips for both lurkers and participants!
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