First ScratchEd Twitter Chat - Wednesday, October 28

We're so excited to host our first ScratchEd Twitter chat on Wednesday, October 28 from 7:00-8:00 PM EST. Our topic is How to Host a Meetup.

To join, use the #ScratchEdChat hashtag or follow the @scratchedteam account, who will be moderating the chat.

Totally new to Twitter chats? Learn more below...

What is a Twitter chat?

Twitter chats are conversations that take place through tweets that are connected through a shared hashtag. Our hashtag will be #ScratchEdChat and our first chat is Wednesday, October 28 at 7pm (Boston time).

How can I join?

You will need a Twitter account to participate in the chat. To sign up, visit twitter.com. There are several ways to view a chat as it is happening:

• Go to Twitter.com and type in the hashtag you want to follow (e.g. #ScratchEdChat) in the search bar. You will see a list of every tweet that uses the hashtag, with the most recent tweets at the top.
• Third-party tools (outside of Twitter) are also available. Tweetdeck (Tweetdeck.com) and Tweetchat (Tweetchat.com) are two options.

What should I expect from the Twitter chat?

• The Twitter chat will start at 7pm (Boston time).
• The @scratchedteam moderator will start the chat by welcoming participants, inviting people to introduce themselves.
• The chat will proceed with a series of questions from @scratchedteam.
• Chat participants are encouraged to share their thoughts on questions and to pose their own questions to the group.
• To add to the conversation, be sure to include the chat hashtag #ScratchEdChat to your tweet.
• The chat will be 60 minutes, ending at 8pm (Boston time).

What else would be helpful to know about Twitter?

Here are a few Twitter tips, (adapted from Twitter’s Insider Tips)

• # - A hashtag is any word or phrase with the # symbol immediately in front of it.The symbol turns the word into a link that makes it easier to find and follow a conversation about that topic.
• .@ - Tweets that have a period (.) before the @reply are meant to be seen by all of a user’s followers--not just those who follow both the sender and the receiver.
• RT - Like an e-mail forward, retweets pass along another user’s tweet to all of your followers. This can be indicated with a “RT” when you manually retweet (copy and paste the content from a tweet into your own tweet) instead of using the retweet button. This is a way people spread news on Twitter and add their own commentary to the shared tweet.
• MT - Similar to RT, an abbreviated for “Modified Tweet.” You can place a “MT” before the retweeted text to pass along your own message in addition to a modified or shortened version of the original.
• HT - A “hat tip” or “heard through” symbol (HT) is used to indicated that you’ve found out about something from another Twitter user--and you want to credit them on Twitter.