If you’re a regular Twitter user, you’ve probably seen people in your feed posting seemingly out-of-context messages using a certain hashtag. These people (most likely) aren’t randomly shouting into the void — they’re participating in a Twitter chat. Twitter chats are a popular, useful tool for learning about different topics and meeting like-minded people.
Simply following a hashtag on Twitter can be dizzying and make it hard to participate in the chat, and sometimes posting multiple times an hour can be annoying. Fortunately, there a couple of tools to help improve your Twitter chat experience. Nurph will turn the hashtag’s feed into a chatroom-style view so you can see and interact with members in the chat all in one place. Tweetdeck’s columns feature will create a feed for the hashtag, letting you keep the hashtag separate from your other feeds. And all the Twitter chat haters can even use Tweetdeck to mute specific hashtags.
Image via Shutterstock
If you’re ready to try out a Twitter chat but don’t know where to start, we found nine useful Twitter chats for Chicago's startup community.
General business/tech
1. #startupchats
Host: Startup Canada
When it happens: Wednesdays and Fridays at 11 a.m. CT
Chat description: This chat is hosted by a Canadian initiative but still covers important topics for entrepreneurs like hiring, management and finance.
2. #getrealchat
Host: Independently run
When it happens: Tuesdays at 7 p.m. CT
Chat description: “We get real on social business, marketing, media, leadership, ROI, relationships and life.”
3. #CIOchat
Host: SearchCIO.com
When it happens: Thursdays at 1 p.m. CT
Chat description: A chat for CIOs and IT executives covering a variety of tech-related topic.
HR
4. #HRUChat
Host: HR UndergroundX
When it happens: Mondays at 6:30 p.m. CT
Chat description: A chat for HR professionals who want to change the industry, featuring guests from different verticals.
Marketing / Community
5. #CMGRHangout
Host: My Community Manager
When it happens: Fridays at 1 p.m. CT
Chat description: A weekly G+ Hangout accompanied by a Twitter chat. Each week the My Community Manager team hosts a topic-based panel and invites anyone to participate in the discussion.
6. #bufferchat
Host: Buffer
When it happens: Wednesdays at 11 a.m. CT
Chat description: Mostly social media managers, but the topics range from company culture to digital mindfulness
7. #sproutchat
Host:
When it happens: Wednesday from 2-3 pm CT
Chat description: Chat for community and social media managers about industry trends
Project management
8. #pmchat
Host: Independently run
When it happens: Fridays at 11 a.m. CT
Chat description: A global conversation on project management, business analysis and more.
Design
9. #UXtalk
Host: Mainstreethost
When it happens: Every other Tuesday at 1 p.m. CT
Chat description: A biweekly Twitter chat focusing on all topics surrounding user experience (UX). With a team of inbound marketers, UX designers, and programmers, there’s no topic we won’t cover.
Know of another Twitter chat we should check out? Email us or tweet us: @builtinchicago.
