It's A Twitter Party!
Posted: Wednesday 04 May, 2011
Erica Whiteman
Back in the day, groups used to gather in community halls, at libraries or even coffee shops to discuss topics, host book clubs or host question/answer panels. But now, with the internet and more importantly, social media, the world has become a smaller place and enables people to interact from the comfort of their computer screen.
Sunday night I was browsing through my twitter feed and came across a hashtag that piqued my interest -#cupcakechat. I’m a baking enthusiast, especially when it comes to cupcakes, so I clicked on the hashtag to see what everyone was talking about. I had inadvertently stumbled across a Twitter party devoted to talking about cupcakes. There were two moderators leading the chat and they kicked it off with questions like “What five ingredients can you not live without?” or “All purpose flour or cake flour?”. This started a conversation all about cupcakes. I found it very helpful to participate in a conversation like this to bounce ideas off other baking enthusiasts, get tips to improve my baking or just share insights – all in 140 characters!
In addition to these types of Twitter chats, Twitter parties are also hosted by brands or businesses and are sometimes even moderated by a celebrity. Using a dedicated hashtag, Twitter followers are able to join a conversation about the specified brand or business. Book clubs have been known to use Twitter parties to meet and discuss the book of the week on Twitter and even ‘How To’ events are hosted within Twitter.
Sites such as Tweb Event list upcoming Twitter parties and chats so it’s easy to see when these events are occurring. Have you taken part in a Twitter party?
