Twitter Chatting and Networking

Benjamin Katz
Dec 12, 2022
4 min read

Participating in and Learning from Twitter Chats

In January, I started grad school in the University of Florida’s online Master of Arts in Mass Communication (MAMC) program, with a specialization in Public Relations (PR). I also created new social media accounts because I wanted to begin growing my online presence. This included a new Twitter account, as the one I’d been using since 2015 was created to keep up on video games and entertainment news. It wasn’t until the Summer 2022 semester that I discovered Twitter chats.

What is a Twitter Chat Anyway?

This is an image of multiple phone applications on an unknown device. It focuses specifically on Twitter's app icon — Credit: Brett Jordan via Pexels

Twitter chats are conversations that are scheduled by a host and led by questions on a particular topic. They are generally open to anyone on Twitter who wants to contribute to the discussion by replying.

When the chat begins, questions will be posted every few minutes for you to offer your thoughts on. There is usually an accompanying hashtag to organize everyone’s answers for others to find and participate in.

By answering the questions the best way you know how, you leave your comments open for others to respond to, thus sparking a further conversation amongst users. It is a great way to connect with others in your industry and learn from them.

If you’re looking to start your own Twitter chat to grow your brand’s audience or awareness, here’s a great place to start!

#PopChat, the Pop Culture Twitter Chat

During the Summer 2022 semester, I began my pursuit of the social media graduate certificate that UF offers. Working towards this additional credential is one of the ways I am trying to set myself up for success after graduating from the MAMC program. During this time, I took two social media courses — Introduction to Social Media and Branding Using Social and Mobile Media.

The latter course taught me a lot about personal and corporate branding. I even created a website to showcase my work. It also introduced me to Twitter chats because one of my former professors—Brianne Fleming—hosts one called #PopChat.

#PopChat is a Twitter chat about marketing lessons to be learned from current trends and pop culture. Every week, various questions that are designed to spark conversations amongst users are posted.

Did a brand go viral for a funny tweet? Is there a new meme floating around? A new social media platform gaining a massive following? Whatever the case may be, #PopChat knows how to take entertainment news that we are all talking about and apply it to marketing, social media, and branding.

Here are some of the ways #PopChat helped me see the value that comes with Twitter chats:

Just Hitting ‘Reply’ During Twitter Chats

An image created on Canva. It is a thought bubble that reads "Don't overthink it" on a blue marble background

When it comes to Twitter, you are limited to only 280 characters in a post or reply. If you think that’s too restricting, keep in mind that the company doubled the limit from its original character cap of 140.

Sounds hard to get all your thoughts out in a single reply, right? Well, Twitter chats have helped me with cutting down on all the unnecessary fluff. Answers to questions are meant to be short and simple to start conversations on the topic.

If you overthink your answers, you risk falling behind during a Twitter chat. Overall, Twitter is a great medium for learning how to be concise in your content because it forces you to minimize what you want to say, so you have to learn how to say it as effectively as you can with fewer words.

Twitter Chats as a Networking Opportunity

An image of many pawns that are used to represent people networking. The pawns are different colors, including red, blue, green, yellow, and purple — Credit: Pixabay via Pexels

As a student, networking is a must. It’s all about building connections with people to develop friendships and continue learning. If you’re studying PR, this might sound familiar to you. That’s right—PR is all about building relationships between brands and their target audiences.

This goes for personal branding too. We are living in an age of social media, and if you aren’t building your online presence how you want it to look, you’re missing out on opportunities for career progress.

Participating in Twitter chats has allowed me to introduce myself to others within the field of communications who are working in the industry. Thanks to #PopChat, I have met many amazing and influential people from whom I have learned a lot.

Learning from Other Answers to Twitter Chat Questions

Another image I created in Canva. It reads "Always Learning" on a sticky note with a red thumb tack that is pinning it on a board.

There have been plenty of times where I found myself not knowing how to answer a question during a Twitter chat. It’s mostly due to the fact that I haven’t had the experiences referenced by the questions.

While I try to interpret a question and answer from the perspective of a PR and Social Media student, I also like to read other users’ answers. Many of the people who participate in the same Twitter chats as I do are mass communication professionals. As such, reading how they answer becomes a supplement to what I am learning in school.

Other Twitter Chats I have participated in

What’s interesting about Twitter chats is that once you join one, you meet new people who participate in others. I started with #PopChat, but here are a few more I came across as a result:

#TwitterSmarter Chat—Hosted by Madalyn Sklar, this chat can help you improve your use of Twitter, both personally and for your business

#SocialTrust—This Twitter chat, hosted by Deb Coman, will spark conversations on how to build trust on social media and grow your audience.

#BizapaloozaChat—Co-hosted by Iva Ignjatovic and Ivana Taylor, this chat can help you with your small business’ marketing efforts.

#ChatAboutBrand—The complement to Christine Gritmon’s Let’s Talk About Brand podcast, featured in AdWeek’s podcast network for advertising and marketing professionasl. This Twitter chat can help you grow your personal or professional brand.

A tweet from myself about how fun Twitter chats can be. It reads: "Twitter chats have honestly been so fun. Even when you're unsure of how to answer a question yourself, there's an opportunity to learn from others"

Twitter chats have given me the opportunity to continue learning from professionals in the field I hope to work in. They also allowed me to network—something that I always struggled with.

Are you participating in Twitter chats?