I Got Lost on Twitter on my way to a Tweeting…..

Tweet chats are conversations or discussions which take place using Twitter. I had the honour of taking part in two of them this week, (#radchat on Tuesday evening and #T-chat on Wednesday evening) and was impressed with what I saw. The passion which people displayed when expressing their points on a particular question was nothing short of contagious.

As a relative new-comer to the experience, I fully expected to just observe; meaning sit at my PC and watch the action as it unfolded, allowing the veterans of the industry control the session, while I tried to see how my opinion would mesh with those more established than myself. Guess What? That lasted all of 5 minutes before I felt I had to get involved. That seems to be the key to these things, Involvement: Everyone has an opinion and in this forum, they are invited to share.

There are no right or wrong answers to the questions, just an exchange of ideas on the topic of the day. Being limited to 140 characters at a time proved unique, as a lot of the thoughts had to be reworked to fit the format, or short-form lingo and tweet-speak becomes the manner of speaking. Should your point exceed the allotted number of characters; you could sometimes finish your thought if you type quick enough before another point of view is offered. There are many strings of conversation going on, and a lot of people “walking” from one conversation to another- offer their insight and move on to the next one.

Participation, as I soon learned is not only accepted; its expected as everyone does have an opinion to share on pretty much anything, and as the old adage goes “You only get out of it; What you put in to it” and these gatherings are one big melting pot of ideas.

The best way to get involved is to watch your Twitter feeds or Facebook feed for a time and a hashtag for the upcoming meetup. As the time approaches; search out an application like “Tweetgrid” or something similar, which allows you to ‘kind-of’ track the direction of the focus, as well as try to give you the opportunity to ‘tweet’ at the appropriate time, rather than minutes after the conversation has moved on.

If you ask me; this is how all town-meetings should be held; albeit with a limit on number of participants….A lot of the world issues could be addressed and possibly corrected.

Something To Think About……Until the next gathering of the clan

p.s. Sorry Tim, I know I said I would have this to you yesterday. But I did keep the title and the flavour of the gathering…TDJS

Comment by Tim Spagnola on September 8, 2011 at 4:45pm: All is good Dan....no worries and I agree that both #RadChat & #TChat were great this week. It is a challenge to keep up, but I have found both to be very informative in the past. I have also made some great contacts. Likewise I love what Margo, Steve, and Tom do with #HFChat. I know there are many more out there, but those are the three that I have participated in the most. I have teased it a bit in the last couple of weeks, but we will soon be announcing details of #RBChat. What? Another chat? I know...I know......but- I think it will really be a great feature to re-introduce to the RBC. By that I mean there will be a weekly topic and several questions for all to weigh in on, but I also feel that #RBChat can be a great tool to harness the collective experience/insight of the community to help one another. Each and every day as recruiters we encounter new obstacles, new objections, and new issues that can prevent us from making that deal happen. After wrapping up the weekly topic I would like to see #RBChat spend a few moments on those types of scenarios that RBC members might be dealing with and see if we can all give one another a helping hand. Make sense? In my head it does ; ).

Not looking to hijack your thread Dan, but would love to hear others share their thoughts of participating in Twitter chats. Oh- I should add that #RBChat will be held in our own new improved (forthcoming) chat room ,but use Twitter simultaneously as a back channel. Do I have anyone interested yet?

Comment by Daniel J Smith on September 8, 2011 at 5:00pm: okay...where do we sign up. As you may have seen; I like to learn new things, new techniques and give feedback if I have an opinion (although not necessarily the popular one). Will check out Margo's chat #HFChat tomorrow.....I was trying to think of it earlier while writing but it just didn't click. Thanks for the input sir and have a great evening.

Comment by Jerry Albright on September 9, 2011 at 7:56am: As usual - I'll simply offer a view from a different perspective.

Been there. Don't that. Yep. All of it. From the first few chats where everyone couldn't wait to jump in to this wonderful new space and add their 2 cents - to the latest round of T-this - T - that.

In a word - or two: Played. Out.

What I've found (and to all my friends who run, own, manage, promote, endorse, sponsor, lead or otherwise have some claim staked in the hashtag world - you know I love you!) is the majority of chats end up becoming a nonstop string of RT's of one "leader/coach/trainer/recruiter/marketer" in the space by another. Kind of like a mutual admiration society - but with a SEND button.

Yes the intentions are good. But the idea of an actual conversation using 140C and hoping to squeeze your thought across with any sort of continuity is more a dream than reality. Plus - many of the tips, ideas, etc. I see (even from the "experts") is complete garbage. On topics from A to Z.

Tim - you know what I think? I MUCH prefer the chat box here. A place for real discussion not limited to short sentences (made even shorter so everyone can RT you thus underlining your Klout and expertise)

I talk to lots of people. And "lots of people" are simply burned out on hashtag chats. Do something different. Bring people here. Don't clog up the Twitter stream with another trendy chat name........

Yep. That's what I think. Coffee please...>>!

Comment by Daniel J Smith on September 9, 2011 at 8:13am: Coffee sounds good to me, Jerry, and as usual very good insight. Sure this new thing has a certain novelty for me; but it does give some of us the opportunity to communicate with people we maybe don't on a daily basis. Multiple hash-tags just confuse me. I can't seem to find a good hash-tag dictionary (anyone?) in cyberspace; but that would take away from the time I should be sourcing and taking care of the business. 140 C ensures alot of the conversation is trimmed down to its essence (make the point and move on). Thank you for the insight, Until next weeks Animal Show- Have a Great Weekend, sir.

Comment by Tim Spagnola on September 9, 2011 at 8:52am: Yes coffee this morning and plenty of it.......

Jerry - I hear and agree with you on all the points you shared. My personal pet peeve is when a moderator asks a question there are a half a dozen retweets of just that to filter through. So I think we are very much on the same page. The goal was not to create, found, or lead another hashtag in a sea of hashtags for the sake of wanting a hashtag. Like you I also prefer the chat box here and that is the plan. To basically take advantage of the chat here and break out of the 140c cycle. Although it will take a hit to my Klout (I kid I kid....)I think using the chat functionality here would allow for a more open exchange. There is also a lot of talk from NING Creators about a revamped chat to soon be released that will add in a lot of functionality. So I always envisioned the actual chat itself would be for RBC members and makes sense to have on RBC. Since not every recruiter is a member of the RBC I view Twitter more or less as acting like a back channel. By that I mean if we are talking here I can see there being the possibility of it spilling in Twitter and thus utilizing some sort of hashtag, but again that is not the goal. It is all about the conversation. So perhaps beyond just letting people know we are actually having a RBC chat - I do not intend to flood you (or anyone's) stream with another hashtag. OK- I really do need coffee now.

Thanks again Jerry and Daniel for opening up this dialogue.

Comment by Daniel J Smith on September 9, 2011 at 10:50am: COFFEE! Need more Coffee! okay, back to the phones, Thanks for the break, Tim and Jerry

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