#KMers Chat Launch

The KMers.org site was ready for beta launch last week in time for the KMWorld09 conference.  Today we launched the weekly #KMers twitter chat.   I would guesstimate that we had about 15-20 people contributing to the Twitter Chat which means we probably had that number again of lurkers.   Lots of quality information was shared and I believe that it was considered a success by all.

For many on the chat it was their first ever.  Yet, despite a few small hiccups, everyone seemed to get the hang of it very quickly.

The topic (Best Ideas from KMWorld09) was not ideal for a Twitter Chat because it is more about sharing knowledge nuggets than having a conversation.  Also, we had far more people who hadn’t gone to the conference and were looking for info than we had people who had gone to the conference and were sharing it.  Future chats will be much more of a deeper dive into one facet of KM per chat.

Here is the summary of the chat from my perspective:

Introductions:

• we discovered that most of the chatters had not been to KMWorld09 and many were new to Twitter Chatting

Thoughts about KMers.org

• @Elsua: Member section should link in a Twitter List
• @lehawes: pointed out that archiving of chats will be a plus
• several indicated that KMers.org login and TweetChat login (double) was confusing
• @andreamayer pointed out that we had a glitch with a post being wrongly attributed
• There were a few other small problems encountered by a few people during the chat

Goals for attending #KMW09

• @swanwick indicated he was there 1) to network 2) to launch KMers.org
• @StanGarfield said he was there to speak, serve on a panel, learn, and interact
• Tone of session: @swanwick indicated that it seemed hopeful.  Hopeful that e2.0 would be the opp for KM and SM to work together.

Sub-discussions throughout the chat

• value of life-narration: balance between inane tweets and over polished ones.
• value of and how to measure KM value
• video as a knowledge sharing channel
• Neats vs. Scruffies http://bit.ly/7jf1WC

Best sessions at #KMW09:

• the consensus was that @BillIves provided the best blogging coverage of the event
• @forgingthfuture found discussion of Personal KM fascinating
• @forgingthefutur felt that @StanGarfield had one of the best presentations http://bit.ly/5aSTeH
• there was general appreciation for 2nd half of @vanderwal presentation http://bit.ly/7G4XVo
• @swanwick liked @nancymdixon doing High Impact Storytelling: http://bit.ly/4FzUHO
• @StanGarfield favs McAfee, Dixon, Li, Lambe, Gilmour, VanderWal. O’Dell
• @StanGarfield enjoyed extracurricular dinner with 30 SIKM Leader CoP members – great discussions and personal interactions.

Ways to improve KMWorld

• @VMaryAbraham felt it was too expensive
• Several wished there was an online attendance package available for those who can’t travel
• @Swanwick shared an open letter to KMWorld organizers http://bit.ly/6aL73q

Future #KMers Topics

• @elsua: deeper dives on 1) Personal KM and 2) storytelling
• @SethHorwitz: mind/concept mapping (comparisons, strategies)
• @SourcePOV: review topic by topic here would be awesome; maybe even invite a few orig speakers?

Chats for Associations

There is already a meta-discussion on Twitter called #assnchat where association leaders collaborate.  How many of those associations are using a Twitter Chat (overview, tools) to create an additional collaboration avenue for THEIR members?  Judging from the Twitter Chat Schedule, the answer seems to be, “very few”.

It seems that social media savvy individuals rather than associations are the ones starting the chats.  Lara Mculloch-Carter (@ready2spark) started #eventprofs.  It could have been MPI.   Jeff DeCagna (@pinnovation) started #assnchat.  It could have been ASAE.

On the recent Oct 6 #assnchat (transcript), I moderated a discussion of how and whether associations should be creating Twitter Chats for their membership.  The chat included some good reasons for an association to run a Twitter Chat

1. It provides another avenue for collaboration
2. It’s free so it can be added as a benefit without driving up costs
3. Content tends to be very good on chats
4. Less intimidating than a conference call for those who are shy to speak out
5. Chat attracts attention from members and prospects due to its nature of tweets going out publicly

and some reasons why an association may not want to run a Twitter Chat

1. Discussion is 100% open.  There might be a privacy issues which necessitates more of a walled-garden
2. Participation may be low until more people are on twitter
3. Yet another channel might spread the activity even more so that it is hard to gain a tipping point of activity in any one channel
4. members may want a non-computer based collaboration since they are already on computer all day

In my personal opinion

• #1 – Certainly a good reason that you should watch out for
• #2 – Even with only 3 people in a Twitter Chat, you can learn a lot.  Get started.  Once word gets out, more will join
• #3 – when done well, channels feed each other rather than take away.  Tout your website during the chat and talk about the chat on your website.  Mention the chat during your f2f meeting and gain registrations for f2f from the chat
• #4 – I have found that most people who spend a lot of time on a computer, prefer additional means of communication that use the same device.  email, IM, and even Skype are often preferred over the telephone by heavy computer users.

A chat session is never going to replace face2face collaboration.  Due to human nature, we develop a significantly deeper/quicker bond when we can see and touch each other.  But, we should not consider the choice an either/or.  Chats can increase the demand for f2f and they can help with the hype.

There is a very different set of opinions based on the same chat session over on Memberclicks.  I hope you will chime in with some of your thoughts either here or there.

The Twitter Chat experience

There are lots of articles and blog posts out there that list Twitter tools.  Very few of them seem to discuss the actual uses of those tools. Since the beginning of the year, I have been involved in scores of Twitter Chats and I am always on the lookout for better ways to handle them.

Below you will find a list of Twitter Chat tools and my personal opinions of the pros/cons of each one.  If you would like to share your pros/cons, please do so in the comments.

TweetChat

Tweetchat is the leader in the Twitter Chat race.  It is my favorite chat app and it is the favorite of most Twitter chatters.  The TweetChat experience is simple and yet powerful.  To my knowledge they are the only app where you enter the hashtag once and then it is appended to each tweet for you.  They do not append any additional URL’s.  These alone are reasons to make them #1.

Another very important feature they offer is the ability to determine the speed that the tweets will refresh as well as pause the stream.  While this may seem trivial, you will understand why it is important when we get to savorchat.   Tweetchat also allows you to block/feature users, reply to particular tweets,  re-tweet any message, and favorite any tweet.

I have only used Twubs for testing and never for a whole chat.  The reason is I have an idealogical difference with the fact that they default to tweeting their URL with every tweet.  While twubs is not as good as TweetChat at the actual chatting, they are an interesting choice to view a hashtag BETWEEN chats because of the content that can be connected around the chatting community: Links, members, images,

and   

Both of these apps allow you save searches.  This feature can be used to follow a hashtag chat.  While it is nice to be able to work within a familiar Twitter environment, the huge problem is that you always have to remember to type the hashtag.  Call me lazy, but that is too much work for me.  :)

Similar to TweetDeck and Seesmic Desktop you have to remember to type the hashtag.  One advantage TweetGrid has though is that you can create a URL that automatically opens a specific set of searches for anyone who uses it.

Writing this blog post was sparked after experiencing my first SavorChat on Tues night.  On the one hand, I am really excited because they have some features that I have been thinking would benefit chats.  On the other hand, their first implementation has enough negatives that it is almost unusable.

1. They are attempting to provide breadcrumbs that show the reply chain of a particular tweet concept.  While this is useful in theory, there are a few problems.
   • Everything happens so fast in a Twitter Chat there is not really time to analyze the chain
   • Twitter chat replies are like a game of telephone.  The reply to the reply may have absolutely nothing to do with the original
   • They take up valuable space so that less tweets can fit vertically.
2. They are attempting to solve the Twitter lag problem by providing msgs that do not go through Twitter but instead are posted directly to all the chatters.  Again, good in theory, but here are the problems
   • The tweets come in one at a time so that the screen is constantly moving.  Reading moving text is very challenging so readers keep losing their place and have to start over.  This makes the chat appear faster than it is.
   • The tweets are not actually going out to Twitter so we are not getting the benefit of the built-in marketing aspect that each participant is sending Tweets to all their followers

If savor chat were to throttle their updates to come in batches, default to tweeting every post, and provide the chain as an optional advanced feature; I think they might get to the top of the list.

If you want to add media to your twitter chat, there is a new application called twebevent just launching which will allow you to do that for free

What apps do you prefer for your Twitter Chat?

Best Practice Uses of Twitter

Don’t pay one of the umpteen Twitter con artists for information about best practices on Twitter.  Get it from the weekly #twchat Twitter chat that takes place every Tuesday at 12pm EST.  To join, just point your browser to http://tweetchat.com/room/twchat at the appropriate time.

Here is some of the information shared this week

For everyone:

1. Connect on a personal level whenever possible  –> Tweet This
2. Provide help to individuals. Don’t just shout about yourself. –> Tweet This
3. A few engaged connections are better than umpteen followers who pay no attention  –> Tweet This
4. Seek out communities with your interests. Twitter chats are one way: http://bit.ly/oXBBu –> Tweet This
5. Find interesting connections through the people that you trust/respect  –> Tweet This
6. Connect with people you meet on Twitter through email and phone. Take it to the next level  –> Tweet This
7. Combine Twitter with Live Video to create a twebevent  –> Tweet This
8. Use Twitter searches to monitor keywords that are important to you and/or your business  –> Tweet This
9. Respond to critics on Twitter quickly. See if you can understand and deal with their issues  –> Tweet This
10. Use a Twitter client app to improve access to your Twitter stream. Save yourself some time  –> Tweet This

For more advanced Twitter users:

1. Use an app like tweetlater.com to vet whether you want to follow-back on new followers  –> Tweet This
2. Use an app like TweetCounter.com to determine how your follower and followee counts are trending  –> Tweet This
3. Use an app like Twubs.com to build a community around your hashtag  –> Tweet This
4. Use an app like Tweetchat.com to participate with a certain hashtag community  –> Tweet This
5. Use an app to send anyone who follows you a quick intro message. (this one somewhat controversial)  –> Tweet This

If you enjoyed some of these Twitter best practices, use the hashtag #twchat to share your own and join us at Tuesday 12pm EST each week to share in real time OR share your idea in the comments below.

Hashtag Spam

Hashtags are used to tag posts.  They enable users to perform better Twitter searches and run twitter chats.  Despite denigration by Scoble, hashtag popularity appears to be on the rise.  As people add more and more Twitter followers, the “noise” level tends to go up and hashtags are a way to sub-divide the stream.  (NOTE: a hashtag filter is better than a generic keyword filter because the extra addition of the ‘#’ character shows intention to classify a post whereas otherwise the keyword could be in a post out of context)

Because receivers are starting to filter by hashtags, Tweeters are starting to use them so that their messages will be read by the target audience.  Unfortunately, where there is a target audience, there is going to be SPAM.  People who are selling products (sometimes completely unrelated to the hashtag) are now adding a variety of hashtags to their messages.

The next evolutionary step in the process is that viewers will soon have the ability to filter both keywords AND people.  You will be able to block out that SPAMMER so they no longer show up in your Filter.  You will be able to white-list particular people who you do want to get through your filter.  Tweetchat has recently added the ability to feature and block particular usernames from a hashtag filtered chat.

If you are interested in finding a hashtag chat, there is a schedule here.