What are twitter hours?

Further to my post on hashtags where I mentioned briefly twitter hours (written as #[something]hour), I thought I’d elaborate.

When I relocated from Yorkshire to Manchester, I was surprised to see the #[place]hour’s I’d been used to weren’t really used down here. Thankfully, they seem to be getting a little more popular and they’re springing up all over the place.

Twitter hours are a great way to meet similar businesses, potential clients, find new services and suppliers – essentially just like real-life networking events but online and from the comfort of your own home.

If it’s an hour that has a lot of participants, it can get confusing which is what puts a lot of people off. It’s hard to keep up with everyone, it’s hard to know what to post and what to do.

Some hours have a question and answer session and others are just ‘free-form’.

Step One: How to search on Twitter

Finding a twitter hour. If you don’t already know about one – say that someone has mentioned to you or that you’ve spotted in your newsfeed, you can try searching for one. In the search field on twitter, simply type in # followed by a place that’s relevant to you (or a subject), followed by hour for example:

#Bradfordhour
or #handmadehour
Note: it doesn’t matter about capitals

Another way to search is to click on the #hashtag itself which is automatically linked by twitter to all other posts using it.

Here’s a list of some of the twitter hours I know about

It will then bring up every post that is has used that hashtag so you can see if it’s one you fancy joining in with or not, and when the hour is (most have specific timeslots).
You can save this search for later use by clicking the save button on the right.

Step Two: How to join in with a Twitter Hour

When that hour’s specific time slot rolls around, there are two things you can chose to do:
a. write a post and simple add the #hashtag for your chosen twitter hour to the end of the post – perhaps, if it’s your first time you could simply introduce yourself.
b. search through other people’s post and find one you want to respond to – making sure to write the #hashtag again.

Once you’ve got going, you might want to follow a few of the people you’ve had chats with (remember when starting or joining a conversation to keep it positive and neutral), and next time you join the hour you can chat to them again or build a relationship with someone new – choice is yours!

Twitter hours, simple as that. Give it a go! Remember, it’s all about being social just like a real life networking group!

You can often find the Smart Bear on #Manchesterhour!