Last night I participated (a bit) in my first Tweet Chat. What’s a tweet chat? A group of people (Twitterers) decide to “meet” at a set time and use a hashtag (such as #sbbuzz) to connect. And chat.
What is #sbbuzz all about? First of all, that # sign in the front means it is a hashtag. You will see hashtags all over Twitter. Hashtags are a sign that this may be a topic of interest to others in the general Twittersphere. Anyone can create a hashtag. #sbbuzz stands for Small Business Buzz (and that link will take you to the sbbuzz blog). You can also follow sbbuzz on Twitter. #sbbuzz chats are held every Tuesday night, 8pm–10pm EST (I think that should be EDT now, but it says EST on the blog).
How did I find out about the Tweet Chat? Much thanks to NJinsuranceGirl for tweeting about #sbbuzz. I found NJinsuranceGirl (Kacy Campion Renna) because jerseybites recommended her on Friday for #followfriday (what’s #followfriday? That’s a whole ‘nother topic: go on Twitter on any Friday and you’ll see lots of these #followfriday tags that are suggesting people to follow on Twitter). I met jerseybites in person last February when I attended a TweetUp. Last night, when I was nowhere near my computer, NJinsuranceGirl sent me the following helpful link via Twitter: http://sbbuzz.biz/instructions. I got on late (at about 8:50 pm EDT, and they had started at 8 pm), and I spent the first ten minutes reading those instructions and trying to figure out the best way to access it all.
What was discussed at the #sbbuzz chat? The topic this week was Insiders Tips for Small Businesses on Twitter. sbbuzz tweeted these questions during the course of the two hour chat:
- Q1. What advice would you give a small business owner brand new to Twitter?
- Q2. What should businesses talk about? What are businesses doing on Twitter?
- Q3. Any good resources for Twitter how-tos, reference guides, etiquettes, etc?
- Q4. Is your local community (govt/academic/private) doing anything to promote entrepreneurship/small business? What is working?
- Q5. How do you find time to stay involved, engaged and contributing to online and offline networks?
- Q6. How many social media networks do you actively participate in? Do connections overlap? How do you keep track?
There was more, but you get the basic idea. I felt since I was new to the “party,” I mostly read what others had to say (and I picked a few to follow regularly), but I did tweet this in response to Q6: “Q6 Social Media networks: Twitter, my own blog, Facebook – I’m on LinkedIn, too; much overlap because of my own blog. #sbbuzz”
Want to know what people had to say? For a while, this will be available by going to http://search.twitter.com/ and typing #sbbuzz. But if you are looking at this post on May 27 or later, you will see the #sbbuzz for that week. A summary is now posted at http://sbbuzz.wordpress.com/2009/05/21/small-biz-tech-advice-resources-may-19-2009/.
Have you ever participated in a Tweet Chat? Used a hashtag in Twitter to follow a topic with others? How would you answer any of the above questions? What questions would you ask?
Hi Leora – Thanks so much for jumping in on the #sbbuzz chat last night. Great to have you and so helpful to hear more about your experience with it here. Yes, we will be posting a summary of the chat in the next few days. Hope to see you back soon – the conversation just gets better as more people join in.
Pamela O’Hara, co-founder, #sbbuzz
Pamela, it’s a great group of people! Glad I checked in last night.
Glad you joined in the chat. I try to be there every week and usually learn a whole lot. It is a great springboard to information and new relationships.
If Twitter is all about networking, then Twitter Chats are potentially the best way to build relationships with really interesting people.
Bradford,
I am glad I joined in a bit last night! I felt like the new one at the party, but it was a welcoming group. I hope to check in again next Tuesday night. Now I have an idea of what to expect.
Thanks for leaving a comment on my blog. I’ve been blogging for over a year, but blogging about business is new for me! I appreciate the feedback.
Learned something new here…
Hi Leora,
Thanks for the mention here. Hashtags can be a lot of fun. Watching what’s trending on the sidelines and chiming in on occasion can gain you followers and its entertaining. I don’t use hashtags as much as I should because they eat up my 140 characters and I’m a chatty Kathy. 🙂
Great post. I’ll have to join in next week’s #sbbuzz
Deb Smith
@jerseybites
Thanks for the comment, Deb. Sometimes hashtags can get overused or misused, too. One needs to use common sense with Twitter, or else one risks becoming Twitter spam.
B”H
I’m interested, but, for better or worse, I have a class 8-10 pm Tues and Thurs. 🙁 major bummer….
Debbie
Debbie, too bad on the timing! There’s a chat on Thurs. nites, #dcth (design community twitter hours)that doesn’t work for me because of the timing. 6-8 pm for me is major family time.
But try talking with local business Tweeps; ask questions! People come on Twitter at all times of the day.