It’s Monday, and that means it’s time for a new #RunSurvey! Today, #RunSurvey wants to know where you get your information about running. You can respond to the survey embedded below, or you can go directly to this link.
Do you #RunChat?
Twice a month, on the 2nd and 4th Sunday, at 8 pm EST/7 pm CST, you’ll find me at my desk in my home office, concentrating hard on the computer screen, and typing furiously to keep up with the very popular #RunChat. I am a huge fan of #RunChat, a Twitter-based chat for runners of all levels. I have learned a tremendous amount from reading #RunChat. I have also met a lot of wonderful virtual running friends on #RunChat. #RunChat also has a lot of great sponsors – usually one for each #RunChat. Last night, the ZoomaRun Women’s Race Series gave away an entry to the Zooma Run of the winner’s choice. Awesome sponsor and prize!
Here’s how a Twitter Chat works. There is a pre-established hashtag – in this case, #runchat. You do a search on Twitter for that hashtag, and you will see all of the tweets that have #runchat in them. If you respond to anything, or contribute your own tweet, make sure you have #runchat in the tweet. That’s it!
I participated in #RunChat last night. During the hour, there were over 1,400 tweets that ultimately reached an audience of nearly 700,000!
I just did the math – 1,400 chats in 60 minutes = a new tweet every 2.5 seconds. Even with a speed-reading class, I would not be able to keep up with the pace of this popular chat.
So, I want to share two very useful tools that I use to manage the speed and information shared on #RunChat.
First, during the chat, I use TweetChat.com. On TweetChat.com, you enter the hashtag of the Twitter chat, and you’ll see all of the tweets. However, you can easily pause, scroll up and down, and have a chance to read more of the content than if you were just on Twitter. Additionally, Tweetchat.com shows you only the tweets for the hashtag you entered. Finally, TweetChat.com automatically adds the hashtag term to all of your tweets sent through that tool. It’s very useful.
Second, after the chat, I like to be able to look at a transcript of the Twitter chat so that I can look over any links or information that I missed (even while using TweetChat.com, it can still be hard to keep up). During last night’s chat, @EnergyBits told me about HashTracking.com
Just like TweetChat.com, in HashTracking.com, you enter the hashtag of the Twitter Chat you wish to view. It will generate a report of all of the tweets that were sent with that hashtag over the last 24 hours. It will also give you some summary data, like the chart above, or my information about the number of tweets, etc.
You’ll want to note, too, that runners use the hashtag #runchat throughout the week because they want a way to post a running question to the general running community, and this is a convenient way to do it.
You can see a sample of the HashTracking.com report for #runchat’s chat last night here: http://www.hashtracking.com/fast-report/?hashtag=runchat
One final tip: When you are on a Twitter Chat, remember that all of your other followers can see all the tweets that you are sending into the chat. For the hour of the Twitter Chat, there may be an unusually high number of tweets from you if you are an active participant on the chat. It’s always a good idea to let your followers know in advance what is going on.
I will usually tweet a message that is something like this:
“For the next hour, I’ll be active in #RunChat, a chat about running. Please pardon the high number of tweets. If you love running, join us!”
I encourage every runner to add #RunChat to their calendar. It’s a great place to share and dialogue with other runners. And, with tools like TweetChat.com, and HashTracking.com, you can get more out of the information shared during that time!
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Great tips! I hope I can join in the next #runchat! Even if I don’t have much to contribute since I am a casual runner ( no racing experience) I can still learn from others~
You will love #runchat. Lurking is just fine. Feel free to introduce yourself, though. Lots of people will say hello to you and welcome you. Especially if you tell them that this is your first time.
Thank you so much for this #runchat tutorial! I have been curious about it and seen the hashtag popping up on Twitter, but I was so confused about HOW to actually participate. Love your blog!
I’m so glad it was helpful! Thanks for the blog compliments – it is truly a labor of love!
Thanks so much for the write-up about #RunChat. For those wanting to know more, visit our website at therunchat.com
It’s my pleasure, David! I’m a huge fan of #runchat and think that all runners should stop by on a regular basis! Thanks for sharing the link!
Wow, thank you so much for the kind words and the “deep dive” into #runchat. David and I have loved each min. of the ride and look forward to continuing to build the #runchat brand. All the best!
My pleasure, Scott! #runchat is one of those Twitter chats that is the “gold standard!”