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Feb 29, 2012    Uncategorized

Live-tweet: bringing a little social media to your social gatherings

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What exactly is live-tweeting?

Live-tweet (v.): to engage on Twitter for a continuous period of time—anywhere from 20 minutes to a few hours—with a sequence of focused Tweets.

And why would anybody want to do that for say, a conference, an industry party, or another formal gathering? Well, it’s hard enough to engage everyone in an event you’re running, even without all the modern technology everyone has glued themselves to. Add that, and you’ll likely end up with a speaker talking AT an audience that’s checking their emails, social media, texts, and more – and then you’re missing out on getting everyone involved in a super easy way.

So, to get started, you’ll need a unique hashtag for your event. For instance, Rock Candy Media used #TourofTX for the live-tweet we coordinated for Draft Pick Austin’s Tour of Texas Beer tasting in January. You just need to find something that is relevant to your event and also is not being used for a lot of other things (so #beertasting would not be as effective since others would be using the same tag without referencing the event).

With your unique hashtag, you can discuss your event and display the conversation on a screen at your event. I suggest using Twitterfall or some other simple trend-viewing Twitter platform (The cleaner the look of the feed, the easier it is for your audience to follow along – so spinning and flashy text is not recommended). With Twitterfall, you’ll get to see every tweet in the conversation when attendants use your unique hashtag.

For large events, this really helps get everyone sharing their thoughts without having to take turns speaking aloud. Also, there’s the ego factor, as everyone just loves seeing their twitter handle up on screen for their 15 seconds of fame.

What about you? Have you been to an event with a live-tweet feature before? Would you be interested in one? We’d love to hear about your experiences and opinions!

Let Your Curiosity Take Control