How to Better use Twitter Hashtags at Events

I KNOW what you mean. I absolutely can’t stand going to an event where people are “Twomiting” – fantastic phrase by the way. Especially if it’s a small-time conference and no one really cares about what the speaker is saying except the people in the room. WE KNOW what he just said, I always think. Thanks for pointing this out, hopefully some folks will learn and move forward with Twitter into greener and less annoying pastures.

I love this post. I had to block out anything related to TED when TEDxDubai took place as my timeline was full of the same quotes repeated by 100s of users.

Julius:

Wow, that’s harsh. Did you mean for this to sound harsh and like a curmudgeon?

I don’t believe in making demands of anyone using social media. Nor do I believe in sitting forth rules for what is right and wrong. It comes across as very judgmental and condescending.

Plus, new people are discovering how to use Twitter all the time. And I believe in giving them the right to do whatever way they want however they want. And for finding what works for them.

I am not annoyed by those tweeting from conferences. If it is too much, then I just ignore them, unfollow them, or place my settings to avoid tweets with that hashtag for the length of the conference.

Here’s my question: Is Twitter only for the follower? Is there ever a case where the person tweeting can use Twitter to benefit their self?

I fall into the latter category. If someone doesn’t like my tweets from a conference, unfollow me. I use it take notes. And because of the way the brain works, I have to listen, think and transpose what the presenter is saying into 140 characters. That is a different process than just listening to the speaker or writing down everything they say.

And I like everyone else tweeting from the conference. I print out the tweets and it’s like sharing notes in a study session. It helps me get a broader perspective on what is being shared.

Before condemning us all to Twomit, remember that some of us may actually benefit from Tweeting at conferences. When at a conference, I don’t tweet for you, I tweet for me. And I tweet for those that want those takeaways from the conference. Don’t discount those that ask me to do it for their sake too.

I do find events with multiple concurrent sessions to be excellent times to search out event hashtags to find content for sessions that I missed. But it is amazing how often the content is about bars, beers, and booze as it permeats out through Twitter-land.

Hello Julius,

Thanks to @gheijkoop i read your blog article about better use of hashtags. When i summarize it by: ‘dare to give your own expression when using twitter during meetings’, i fully agree. Besides i have some remarks and nuancings.
-i do not think i have the right to judge if a speaker is great or not, i only want to inform my followers about my experience
-the best way to inform them, as far as i am concerned, is summerizing what i hear
-i do make judgements by selecting what i twitter about, by interpreting it and by formulating. As a professional reporter i am trained to stay neutral as far as possible
-i make further judgements (good, bad, nice, …) in my tweets recognizable and founded on the observations i mention
-i am convinced that staying neutral in this way is much harder than judging, but it makes my tweets more interesting for followers who want to think for themselves. And if not i still do not want to judge for them
-i am also convinced that every attendant of a meeting makes his/her own selection, interpretation and formulation, all people tell stories their own way. Searching on the hashtag of a meeting, will give a variety of tweets already.

Thanks for the opportunity to reflect on this.

Rob Visser
@RobVis