I’ve been a Twitter user for a few years now, and I have seen the service morph from a conversation tool to an advertising marketing tool. At first it was “What are you doing?” to “Hey, look at what I’ve done!”. I enjoy and sometimes even appreciate links to articles, news items, even events, but the platform isn’t the same one I used to love.

There seems to be a movement right now (and maybe has been for a while, I just didn’t notice), but Twitter users are starting to host what are known as Twitter Chats, based on a hash tag and topic. Here is how a Twitter Chat basically works. Tweet often carry a hash tag like #blogchat, or some other keyword to describe the Tweet. When a hash tag is clicked, most Twitter clients will create a search based on that hash tag, giving you a view of Tweets that only carry that tag. Fine tuning the stream you are viewing means you can focus on the “Chat” and exclude you complete stream.

Example of what a chat column looks like in Hootsuite:

Most of these Chats have scheduled times, hosts, topics, and even web sites dedicated strictly to the hash tag. I follow several, mostly about writing, and a very cool tag #blogchat. I’m looking for more, and would love any recommendations. Here are the ones I’m following at the moment, and have a column dedicated to the tag in my Hootsuite application.

#blogchat
#writechat
#scifichat
#scribechat
#storycraft

There’s a few draw backs to Twitter Chats. One is the increased number of Tweets in your stream that most of your connections don’t want to read. The second is Tweet Chats move fast, several thousand Tweets are generated during a chat, and you need to refresh your tool to see all the new Tweets. It’s hard to stay involved in a single conversation for too long, and I tend to miss a good number of Tweets and or questions.

My advise is to watch a Twitter Chat a few times. See what people are asking, how they respond, and who is participating. Then jump in. There is no right or wrong way, only that you make sure the Chat tag is included somewhere in your Tweets.

If you use a tools like Hootsuite, or TweetDeck, you can create dedicated columns to follow a topic. You can also use a cool web application like TweetChat.com. This application creates a stream that auto refreshes every few seconds.

Tweet Chats have helped me get excited about Twitter again. I’m connecting with more people, having relevant conversations, and learning more than I have in a long time. Happy Tweeting!

Tags: BlogChat, Chat, Hootsuite, SciFiChat, ScribeChat, StoryCraft, Tweetdeck, Twitter, WriteChat