The first thing I would say is that I wouldn't be able to handle participating in a Twitter chat without using a program such as Participate Learning (click the image below for a blog post about using this site). By going to Participate Learning's website, I was able to easily see when a chat would be taking place, join a chat, and stay connected with notifications of when I am mentioned, retweeted, or liked. It also allowed me to keep up with the large flow of Tweets that were coming in as a result of the chat. I looked in to some other tools available to help manage Twitter chats, but Participate Learning was by far my favorite. I can even log-in at a later date and see transcripts of chats I may have missed.
The first Twitter chat I participated in was #3rdchat, which I loved because it was completely focused on third grade topics and I knew I would be conversing with educators who deal with similarly aged students. There were 39 participants and it lasted for an hour. The topic that was discussed was one I am passionate about anyways - classroom design.
It was very easy for me to get involved in this chat and share my thoughts, as well as comment on other participants' responses. #3rdchat used a Q1/A1 format, where they would post a question (Q1) and as you answered the question, you would put A1 in front of your answer to signify which question you were responding to. I like how questions were posted in a picture format (like shown below), because it made them stand out from other Tweets that were appearing in my feed.
The second chat I participated in was #MOedchat. This chat had 64 participants from all over Missouri, and some who had even moved away but were still participating. They used the same Q1/A1 format, and I really liked how they posted all of the questions a couple of days before so I could start thinking of some responses.
Overall, there were a few things that bothered me about Twitter chats. First, many participants got off topic and would make tweets to the group that had nothing to do with the questions or answers. For instance, during #MOedchat, several started talking about the Olympics, putting their kids to bed, and posting tons of memes (images with text on them) about random things. That was very distracting to me and took away from what I felt was the purpose of being there - to discuss things in education. Don't get me wrong, I don't mind people tweeting about those things, I just didn't feel like our Twitter chat was the place for it.
Second, I sometimes found it hard to say what I wanted with the character limit. Often I was only a few characters off (it's not like I was writing a novel), but I had to spend so much time trying to figure out how to shorten my response to get it to send. Along with that, I'm just not a fan of all the abbreviations and shortened words used in order to get someones point across. Spelling the word "for" with the number 4 and the word "you" with the letter "u" just bothers me when we are all adults and professionals.
Lastly, I was not a fan of how fast (and sometimes slow) the Twitter chat seemed to move. Long after question 3 (Q3) had been posted, people were still sending in responses for Q1 - probably because they were trying to get it to fit in the character limit. ;)
In summary, participating in Twitter chats was a good experience from me. I learned things and got new ideas, and was able to share some ideas as well. I will still be searching for chats to participate in, but I will be looking closely at the topics to decide whether or not I will participate. I will also be looking for chats that start at 8:00pm or earlier, as they last an hour and then I feel rushed to get ready for the next day and get to bed (especially during the school year). If you haven't tried a Twitter chat yet, I encourage you to do it. Try it. It's not for everyone, but you will most likely learn some valuable things and who knows, you may love it!
