Which new ideas are future staples, and which ones are just fads?
MySpace sure was popular for a while there. Google Glass looked unbeatable. Now?….not so much.
We don’t know the future. We only have hunches, analysis, ROI, and the myopic view of cultural swells to go by. When I first read about Twitter in WIRED magazine in 2007, I thought “…what a ridiculous name…!”
TWITTER’S PROMISE
Twitter may yet fail spectacularly, but for the time being, it’s entrenched in the global culture. In fact, Twitter’s best use may be as a database of information, not so much a communications tool. In journalism, we’re taught to use the best Twitter search programs to see patterns in of the billions of 140-character messages that are posted everyday.
One fairly recent method of manipulating Twitter to best use is the TwitterChat. In the midst of the never ending stream-of-consciousness that is Twitter… any one person or organization can schedule a conversation (chat) serving a certain population subset, using pre-planned topics, at a pre-determined time, and organizing it all under the #hashtag indexing system. Anyone can join in, but in planning a TwitterChat with some semblance of structure, the organizers typically reveal in advance the time, topic, and #hashtag determiner.
HERE WE GO!
World-Voices Organization is preparing to do TwitterChats. Why?
- to serve the VO industry
- to find interested prospects
- to answer questions
- to generate ideas
- to advocate for members
- to test the waters
- to provide a forum on issues
There’s more…we’re just not sure what the “more” will be, honestly. We’re trusting the process, and the process of TwitterChats is getting to be almost a science. There’s preparation for the event, then the chat itself, then an analysis of the activity and information during follow-up. An entire cottage-industry is springing-up around the use of TwitterChats.
We’re also trusting an expert in chats. Her name is Pamela Muldoon, and while she’s an up-and-coming voice actor in her own right, she comes from a deep background in content marketing and content management. Pamela is also a World-Voices member, and believes (as I do) in the public relations value of TwitterChats.
Will the chats work? We’re not honestly sure, but (refer back to the top of the blog), we think there’s little to lose in trying, and much to gain… even in the unlikely event the chats fail.
WEDNESDAY
Our first WoVO TwitterChat is scheduled for this Wednesday, December 17th at noon Pacific time. It’s actually a trial run for a continuing series of TwitterChats we hope to be able to maintain twice a month in 2015.
Wednesday’s Topic will be WHAT IS WORLD VOICES?
Pamela will be our coordinator of the chat, and I will moderate and answer questions with Dustin Ebaugh, WoVO’s Exec. President.
Below are the question thought-groups we’ll be addressing:
- In the midst of agents, and unions, and P2P’s…what function does WoVO serve for the Voiceover community?
- How do I join WoVO?
- Who runs the organization?
- What is WoVO’s mission?
- What are the advantages to being a member?
- Would I know any of the members of WoVO?
- How do I keep up with the goings-on of WoVO?
- Do you ever get together to talk business?
- What would be expected of me as a member?
- Why are you doing these Twitter Chats?
The hashtag we’ll be using for this and future TwitterChats is: @WoVOChat (case doesn’t matter).
HERE’S WHAT YOU DO:
There’s no need too RSVP, nor do you have to be on time (although it’ll help)…just set a search column in TweetDeck or Hootsuite or TwitterFall (or whatever you use to monitor Twitter) to the search term @WoVOChat. Then, sit back and watch the conversation happen. Chime in whenever you feel. The results can be fast and furious, so it helps to be a good typist!
One more thing. If you’d like a quick primer on TwitterChats, I recommend the following article. We’ll be using a lot of these concepts in structuring our chats.
http://www.socialmediatoday.com/content/smtoolbox-tips-and-tools-managing-twitter-chats
See on Twitter this Wednesday!
CourVO
