6 Tips for Managing Discussions in Twitter
It's not any secret that conversation and discussion are great for engaging people. Unfortunately twitter is a more difficult medium to hold a conversation in. Comments are not threaded like on Facebook or Friendfeed and many cryptic messages tend to turn off followers that are outside the topic. As a general guideline I try to keep discussions from getting more than 2 tweets deep. Here are a few tips that can help you manage conversations and take them beyond 2 tweets.
It's Just You and Me Kid - Conversation With One person:
- Start sending replies as direct messages. The person you are talking to will often start communicating the same way. This method works with both people you know well and those you just met.
- If it seems appropriate direct message the person with your email address. Twitter makes you break long stories into small chunks that take a long time to get the point across. Your discussion partner might actually jump at the chance to save time on one message vs many.
- Suggest that you take the conversation into a public chat room like IRC or a private chat channel in a service like Google Talk.
Lets get this Party Started - Conversation with Many:
- If the topic is something going on right now (like a conference plenary) go strait to an IRC chat room. You may even want to broadcast that others can join you. This also has the benefit / drawback of airing less savory comments semi-privatly.
- Suggest that the discussion can continue in Friendfeed or or Facebook. As mentioned above those services have threaded discussions.
- If you feel like the discussion merits it - make a post on a public forum that can then allow a longer term treatment of the topic. Now your discussion has evolved into a contribution to the broader community if it's in a forum that everyone uses.
I would love to hear what other people think about this topic. It's not a given that multi-tweet conversations are a bad thing. If you have other tips or can suggest more resources then please comment. See this post as a starting place.
