HangChat: Google Hangout on Air During a Twitter Chat

Twitter chats have become very popular.  But popularity comes at a price. Besides the large number of tweets streaming by, you end up with spammers spamming the hashtag and other unnecessary noise.  In the early days, with fewer participants it was easier to engage in quick multi-tweet conversations to dig deeper, or gain clarity, around someone's point being made.  In my experience lately the large numbers of participants make that quite difficult resulting in a stream of one-liner tweets simply trying to one-up the next.  And while many people find that to be the most enjoyable part of a twitter chat, I prefer a more personable setting. Something with the pacing and question format of a twitter chat, but the intimacy of a video conference.

Enter Google Plus Hangouts on Air (G+HoA)

A G+HoA is a live video conference with up to 10 participants in video chat room setting. Think of it as a virtual dinner party.  Or a virtual happy hour gathering to watch a sporting event. Or better yet think of it as an over flow room with a video feed of the main room.  Only instead of having only 140 characters to communicate you can talk amongst yourselves and share your twitter chat experience together in a virtual small group setting.

Some have put forth the idea of doing a G+HoA right after the twitter chat as a sort of recap. It's an interesting idea, but it doesn't solve the problem of desiring a more human connection DURING the twitter chat experience.

After 4 weeks of testing the idea, I've found that doing a G+HoA during a twitter chat more than provides the engagement I'm looking for.

How Do We Define a HangChat?

I wasn't planning on calling it anything, but the term just popped up mixing the 2 experiences and it stuck.  So let's keep it.  But what exactly is it? Well, I think the best definition was tweeted recently.

"So these are hangouts that run parallel to someone else's chat?" - Ellen Wagner (@edsonoma)

Yes! A HangChat, as I have experienced them, is exactly that. And as I reflect on my experience, I see no reason why there couldn't be many different HangChats occurring simultaneously around one twitter chat. It's an enhancement and extension of the twitter chat experience...nothing more.

What Makes for a Good HangChat?

Excellent, quick on your feet, facilitation skills, would make for a great HangChat leader.  Of the 4 HangChats I have run I can honestly say I did a TERRIBLE job facilitating.  But it's an experiment and we're testing it out in the open for all to see.  My failure as a HangChat facilitator does not immediately negate a HangChat's usefulness. I've enjoyed them even when I'm running them poorly. And the first 4 weeks of participants have enjoyed them as well.  It's a learning experience. It's what I do...what we do. So, we'll continue to experiment until we find a process that works for everyone.

The small groups participating in the G+HoAs do not benefit by "hijacking" the twitter chat conversation. Without the twitter chat the hang chat does not exist. So, it doesn't make sense for anyone, or any entity, to remove the value inherent in the twitter chat. As mentioned earlier, the goal is to enhance and extend.

Social Media is Only What YOU Make of it!

The beautiful nature of social media is that it can be whatever YOU make it.  It's still the wild west. There are no rules. Except of course for Cammy Bean's ultimate rule of "Don't Be an A******." That still stands.

But seriously, there is a reason why there are memes like "Work out loud", and "Show Your Work". It's because with the internet and social media we CAN, so why not? Will you open yourself up to criticism? Absolutely! Will you feel vulnerable at times? Yep, that too. Do you need any special skills or permission? Nope. Have at it. But above all have fun and learn something new!

So... if you have any interested in just trying out a HangChat, ping me. Find me on G+, or Twitter (@bschlenker), and let me know you'd like to join us. If my 10 spots fill up before you contact me, I'll encourage you to start your own. I'll even walk you through the process.  It's fun! We'll learn together as communities of practice do.

Twitter Conversation Types and Learning

I've often wondered how much learning really occurs via twitter conversations and can the learning be measured. Twitter is fabulous for supporting your loosely joined networks.  And many in the eLearning community list Twitter as one of their favorite "Learning Tools".  But can we really say its Twitter that's truly responsible for the learning, or is it the ongoing conversations and connections to content that matter more?

I saw a tweet from @eGeeking (Bianca Woods) today with a link to the new Pew Research report (Mapping Twitter Topic Networks) that identifies The Six Structures of Conversation Networks. Of course my first thought was, how does learning fit into these structures.  And then I started wondering if learning even SHOULD fit into these structures.

It's a very interesting read and will no doubt spark conversations for a while, and supply information for many social media conversations to come.

How Twitter Changed the eLearning Community with Conversations

During the last #lrnchat session someone mentioned that Tweetchat.com was back.  In the early days of #lrnchat I used tweetchat heavily to follow hashtag conversations.  As I was thinking about it I began to remember other Twitter tools like the open source TwitterCamp we used at live events to display the twitter stream.  And of course that led me to the very beginning.

In the beginning

You can find out more about the start of twitter by just Googling it.  The Business Insider has a good article titled The Real History of Twitter. Here's another good article from SocialNomics titled The History of Twitter.  And, if you enjoy podcasts, I would highly recommend Episode 412 of This Week in Startups titled The Origins of Amazon and Twitter.

Twitter launched in 2006.  Which, for some reason, doesn't sound right.  It feels like it's been around a lot longer than that.  I signed up in January of 2007. And according to a fancy stats service I've been a user longer than 99.9% of all users.  Gotta love big data.

Twitter at eLearning Conferences - TwitterCamp

So, by early 2008 I began testing Twitter's usefulness in a conference setting at The eLearning Guild's Annual Gathering.  By the end of that year we had our first twitter monitor setup on the hallway of the DevLearn2008 event. You can read more about that and the power of back channel conversations here. And if you won't take my word for it that Thomas Stone did a nice blog post about it as well here. And since Thomas mentioned Michelle Lentz I will go ahead and post link to her post about DevLearn2008 as well. Twitter became a big deal.

The following year, DevLearn 2009, we were ALL IN with social media.  We launched a Social Learning Camp hosted by Mark Oehlert. It wasn't just about twitter, but if I recall we did have the event twitter stream running on 2 monitors this time instead of just one.

Twitter at events had become a big deal. I received many emails and calls asking how we did it.  I was happy to share...it's no secret. And that's what community is all about, right? I found an open source app called TwitterCamp to display the tweet stream on big screen monitors.  While people were still unsure what the heck twitter even was, this was a good way to help them SEE it in action and not just hear about it from some of the speakers.

Now that Twitter is so popular, I'm not sure big screens are even necessary.  We now have iPads and Mini iPads to display our own custom twitter streams during events.  And most event organizers now have event twitter accounts, and predefined #hashtags.

The Backchannel

Twitter, in my opinion, was the one social media tool that really encouraged the idea of the Backchannel.  The backchannel is the stream of conversations happening on social media while a live event is happening.  Audience members are tweeting their personal commentary LIVE during general sessions, concurrent sessions, and throughout their event experience.  What? No morning coffee setup in the hall? Just tweet about it and I'll bet you see coffee their the next morning.  The backchannel gives you a voice in an otherwise loud and crowded social event.

In the early days I remember speakers being very upset about the audience looking at mobile devices and laptops during their presentations.  But the backchannel is here to stay and I don't hear the grumblings much any more.

One cannot mention the backchannel without admiring the work of David Kelly, King of the Backchannel.  Check out his post on What Makes a Great Conference Backchannel.

#LRNCHAT

By early 2009 we had made our point and everyone started...well..."chatting".  Enter hashtags, and #lrnchat.  In the beginning #lrnchat was hosted by @marciamarcia, @quinnovator, @moehlert @koreenolbrish and @janebozarth. The official twitter account is @lrnchat. 

Here is one of my blog rants about a #lrnchat session on the topic of Subject Matter Experts.

If you aren't yet familiar with Twitter Chats then #lrnchat is a great place to start.  Check out lrnchat.com to get started.

You can connect with +Jane Bozarth @janebozarth, who is one of the remaining original hosts, directly if you want.  That's part of what's so great about social media.  Go ahead. Send her a tweet. I dare you. You won't regret it.

Then Crazy Happened

DevLearn 2009 - #lrnchat LIVE Participants

I'm not sure how it all started.  But at some point those of us who had been early participants in #lrnchat thought it might be a good idea to actually all meet in one room and do #lrnchat together...in person.  And yes, it's actually as weird as it sounds.

DevLearn 2010 - #lrnchat LIVE

Imagine 20+ people in a room all staring down at various laptops and other devices virtually chatting with each other.  Like maybe we should have been using that time to chat with each other...for real? Maybe? I don't know?  But strange as it sounds...it was kind of fun.  And so it became another opportunity for like minded learning professionals to gather around...and chat.

You can always find the #lrnchat -ers at Guild events gathered around a long table with a bunch of curious onlookers gathered around...but keeping their distance. The spectacle has the look of a strange new age digital prayer circle.

Face-to-face meet ups are great, but adding virtual attendees adds value for everyone.  While it does seem a bit strange to outsiders who've never participated, it doesn't seem all that strange any more to me.

Now the big question is how long will it take before this type of inclusive meet up becomes natural in work environments?  Does your have company have Lync? or Skype? or Chatter? or any of the other texting tools for the enterprise? Do you use it?

I'd love to hear other stories about how you came to be involved with Twitter and/or other social media.

RIP @TerrenceWing - eLearning Community Loses a Thought Leader

I was up early this morning (4am MTN time).  I couldn't sleep and so I grabbed my phone and checked on what my east coast peeps might already to up too.   And to my shock and disbelief I saw a tweet from @lilybiri ...

@trishuhl Shocked and sad about the news that @TerrenceWing passed away - met him IRL on #DevLearn #ASTD

I immediately sent her a DM asking for clarification.  I thought perhaps it was a misunderstanding.  She immediately replied saying she heard it from Rick Zanotti.  And that's when I knew it was real.  A quick double check of twitter revealed this post from @RickZanotti ...

I just received word that my good friend, our good friend, @TerrenceWing, passed away earlier today. Still in shock. Will say more later.

I've been following the twitter stream and just checked out his Facebook page.  Terrence was a big, hands on, supporter of social media.  Amidst the sadness of losing him, I'm discovering a new found hope in the new technologies that are so often blamed for ill will.  I see the number of lives touched by one man in an endless stream of twitter commets and Facebook postings.    And we will always have his podcast interviews with Rick.

Terrence, Rick, and Me

Rick and Terrence hosted a great podcast called eLearnChat.  I was honored on 2 occasions to be a guest.  They had the opportunity to talk with so many people in our industry as well as those on the edges.  I would highly encourage you to watch a few.

Social media can teach us a lot.  But when someone dies there is an intense moment of reflection...at least for me.  I am a firm believer in people, NOT technology.  The technology simply enhances and amplifies our ability to reach other people.  Soon, the wonder of this new technology will disappear and we'll be left with just the amazing social enhancements it provides.  But its the ability to connect with many more people, more closely, that makes this technology special.

I dare you to walk in the footsteps of Terrence Wing and embrace social media with the same passion and enthusiasm.  Do it!  And share your skills with a friend or colleague.  It would be a fitting tribute to Terrence.  And honestly, if you can do nothing else today just try sharing a smile with someone... anyone.  I will never forget that big smile he shared so freely with everyone he met.

We miss you Terrence!  Rest in Peace.