Using Twitter Chats to Expand Network

I've been writing articles on this blog since 2005. Prior to that I published a printed newsletter every four months from 1993-2001 and sent it to a growing list of people, maxing at about 12,000 by 2001.


The goal has been to reach a growing number of people who would use these ideas to support the growth of non-school, mentor-rich programs that support youth as they move from first grade to high school graduation, post high school learning, and  ultimately jobs and careers.

Without advertising to spread this information I have to rely on networking efforts and social media.  Recently I've begun to participate in Twitter chats. You can do this by searching for any term then following people who include a hash tag (#) to the same search term. For instance a few weeks ago while NBC and Public Broadcasting were hosting discussions about the dropout crisis, you could have followed the discussion using #amgrad or #EdNation. 

That's one way.

Another is to find a platform that supports Twitter Chats. I started using http://tweetchat.com about a year ago. So to follow a discussion on a specific topic I log in, post the topic I want to follow and begin to participate under a URL like http://tweetchat.com/room/bmaforum

The benefit of this is that you don't need to put in the hashtag when you post a comment. Every comment you post shows up in the thread, along with comments of everyone else who is participating in this chat.  By following this you can identify others who care about the same things you care about and reach out to them via direct messages, by following them, or by visiting their web sites and learning more about what they do.

This is all part of an on-going network-building process that I apply every day in my efforts.

Here's a list of hastags for chats that I follow. I keep this list so I can go back to different conversations from week to week to see if new people are posting messages and to post new messages myself so more people are looking at the ideas I share on this blog, my web sites, or in the May and November conference I host in Chicago.

#volunteerism
#tutormentor
#mentor
#tmconf_chi  (Join chat on November 7, at 1:30-2:30 CST, hosted by Alyssa VandeLeest of ProsperPR.com (Twitter handle @alyssaLvan).
#networkweaving
#collectiveimpact
#volunteer_recruitment

#mapping
#GIS
#SNA
#visualization
# Socialchange
#oppindex
#eChicago

#gradnation
#educationnation
#blackedu
#achievementgap
#educationFirst
#skillsgap
#strivec2c
#stem
#BMAforum
#BusinessEdNet
#AmGrad
#ObamaEdNet
#CollabEdNat
#npredchat
#sharedvalue

#NextSocEnt
#SCWF12
#SocBiz
#SMWChicago
#civiced




Obviously there are an unlimited number of chats you could follow. However, I focus my time on building a network of people who work together to solve a deeply entrenched social problem - poverty in America.  If that's what you're interested in I hope to connect with you in one of these chats. If you'd like to add to my list please post new search terms (related of course!) below.

My Twitter handle is @tutormentorteam