How do Twitter parties work?

meeska

meeska

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Thanks arrtup! I participated in one last night, it was very overwhelming. I was not sure if I should retweet every single tweet and participate, which is what the winner(s did, so I just asked questions and liked all the tweets from the sponsors.. What I was wondering most was if the more tweets *w. hashtags* means more entries or if one was enough... There were at least 20 new tweets every second... It was crazy. I am not sure if I would participate again :(
 
You're welcome, meeska. I hope an experienced twitter party person will reply and be able to answer your questions.

meeska said:
Thanks arrtup! I participated in one last night, it was very overwhelming. I was not sure if I should retweet every single tweet and participate, which is what the winner(s did, so I just asked questions and liked all the tweets from the sponsors.. What I was wondering most was if the more tweets *w. hashtags* means more entries or if one was enough... There were at least 20 new tweets every second... It was crazy. I am not sure if I would participate again :(
Click to expand...
 
meeska - As for all promos, the rules are your guide.

A quick google of How do Twitter parties work netted me:

http://www.tweeparties.com/beginners_guide.html


It's time to take flight! But how to leave the nest? Here's a quick guide to getting started and preparing to attend your first Twitter party:

Sign up for a free Twitter account. If you don't have one already, fly on over to Twitter and get a free Twitter account. Click the large yellow "Sign Up" button found on the right side of your screen. Twitter will then take you through the process of creating a new account. Pick a username (or Twitter ID) that suits your personality. To join a Twitter party or chat, you must NOT make your account protected (or private), but rather accessible to everyone.

Get used to Twitter. Learn your way around Twitter a bit: follow some of your friends or people/organizations you are interested in (Start by following TweeParties!). Send a few tweets, see how your timeline updates with new posts once you start to follow others, and learn some of the Twitter terminology.

Find a Party. Once you've become more familiar with Twitter, it's time to PARTY! Find a party by checking out the links to calendars on our Twitter Party Resources Page. Some parties require that you register (or RSVP) in advance, some don't. The link to the party's page should make it clear what you need to do to attend.

Follow the Party Hosts. If you find a party to attend and click on the party link, you will see a list of the host(s) for that particular party, usually listed by their Twitter ID (such as @TweeParties). It's a good idea to follow them beforehand so that you can learn about any last-minute changes or updates to that party.

Follow the Party Hashtag. The hashtag is the key to the Twitter party. Think of it as a keyword (or phrase). It distinguishes itself from other words in a tweet because it has the "#" symbol before it (such as #tweeparties). Without it, parties wouldn't work. The party organizer or host chooses a specific hashtag for the party that each attendee must include in each tweet sent in order to be "seen" and included in the party. Without it, your tweet is just a tweet and won't be recognized as being part of the Twitter party. If you use a Twitter aggregator program (see next bullet point), these will automatically add the hashtag for you. Otherwise, you can search for the hashtag through the Twitter search feature, but this will require refreshing your browser to see the most recent tweets that use that hashtag. It's easier to participate in a party using a free Twitter aggregator program (see next section for more!)

Decide How You Will Follow the Party. As mentioned above, you can attend the party through Twitter alone -- you just need to follow the hosts and the #hashtag (I attended my first party this way). However, manually refreshing your Twitter page to get the latest tweets can become tedious. You might want to try a "Twitter Aggregator" program, or free software that compiles all tweets from a particular follower, hashtag or both! Popular aggregators that work well with the Twitter API v. 1.1 (relased in June 2013) are:Tweet Deck,Twubs, or TChat.io. Whatever program you choose, give it a try beforehand so you'll be better prepared in time for the event. For first time partygoers, we strongly recommend starting with Twubs or TChat.io. They are easy to use with their single column format. Try going to the TChat.io homepage, sign in (you will sign in with your Twitter ID and Twitter password) and enter the hashtag. Not only will the timeline automatically refresh itself, but any tweet you send will include the hashtag in your tweets, so you don't have to worry about forgetting to include it. If the tweets seem to be going too fast for you, you can pause them using the 'pause' button at the top of the screen.

Relax, Be Patient and Have Fun! It might take attending a party or two to really get the hang of Twitter parties. The more popular the topic or party, the faster-paced they might seem.. Don't worry about trying to view every tweet, take part in every conversation or chat with everyone at the party. Just sit back, say what's on your mind, explore the topic being discussed and have fun! But here's a tip for catching your breath: If you do use an aggregator program, you should have the ability to "stop" or "pause" your timeline (look for those buttons at the top of the timeline). Click to pause and the new tweets will stop appearing until you decide to it's time to resume. This pause feature will you a chance to catch up and read tweets you find interesting without feeling rushed.

AND:

What is a twitter party?

What Is a Twitter Party?

A twitter party is a fast and fun virtual party, using the twitter platform. Usually held in the evening, twitter parties typically last 1-2 hours and are a wonderful way for people to connect and discuss a topic of choice. Most twitter parties have an expert panelist and party host to keep the party on topic.

How does a twitter party work?

Twitter users tweet with a specified Hashtag (#) for the party. The party host will announce the hashtag prior to the event. If you look at the twitter party calendar, parties are listed by the hashtag (#). Users use their tweet chat client to search for the hashtag and join in the conversation. Tweetdeck and Tweetgrid make following a twitter party much easier.
 
I have participated in a few twitter parties and have won twice (50 walmart gift card and 50 sears gift card). Sometimes I like them, sometimes I don’t…depends on my mood.

The link that Amy provided is a great resource, but I will add my two cents in response to your questions.

Twitter parties can be overwhelming but using tools like: Tweetdeck, tweetgrid, or tchat.io, Twubs can make it so much easier. The great things about these resources is that you can pause/slow down tweets so that you don’t feel so overwhelmed.

As for how the winners are chosen, that really depends:
-early bird winners: a lot of twitter parties will choose early bird winners, people who tweeted about the party the part before it happened and who participate in the party (these winners are usually chosen the first few minutes of the party)..one of my prizes was won this way
-random: any person using the chosen hashtag can win, so yes the more you post and the more you participate, the more chances you have to win..but it only takes one entry, so don’t feel like you have to send out a bajillion tweets
-response to a question-winner is chosen by responding to a specific question, sometimes the question has a right answer and sometimes it doesn’t..I won one of my prizes this way, the question was something like tweet a picture of yourself in your latest fall fashion.

Some other thoughts from me about twitter parties:
-I wouldn’t try attending more than one at a time (until you really get the hang of it). I was at a twitter party and someone did not respond in time to get their prize…when I looked at her twitter page, I saw that she had been participating in another twitter party and must have forgotten to check back with the 1st party in time.
-There are sooo many twitter parties, I would start with entering for prizes that you really like/topics that you might really like discussing/talking about for an hour
-I like to focus on twitter parties where a good number of prizes are being given away-5 or more, I tend to avoid the parties where only one prize is being given away
-Keep in mind that there is always a learning curve with anything new, there was a time when I didn’t know how to walk, type, drive etc..but once I got it down, it became easy…I think the same is true of twitter parties, once you do it a bit, it becomes easy-peasy!!!

Hope this helps, good luck!
 
lk107,

That is a really great post, thank you! I'm not using twitter, but you don't have to be to appreciate the time you took, how you spelled it out, shared, explained your personal approach, and really understand how it feels to start...the learning curve. I hope you continue to win! :cool:
 
I used to love Twitter parties, but pretty soon they're going to get super popular and won't be worth attending any longer. They are very very hard to keep up with, so you want to be sure you're using the right platform. Also don't forget to follow EVERYONE it says to, and RSVP ahead of time. And don't just retweet.. you have to answer.

EDIT: The one thing I disagree with from Amys.. is I've noticed that they're usually DURING THE DAY.. not in the evening. There are some in the evening, but a lot during the day as well. And I rarely see them on weekends. It's great for those who do not have regular 9-5 jobs.
 
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Twitter Parties?

I'm a little confused about so fab twitter parties. Everyone is in a "room" if you will, and then people are picked during the hour conversation. Is it random picking? Is it based on your comments? Help please.
 
I have been curious of twitter parties too... this is what I found;
Early Bird Prize Winners are randomly selected from all entries and awarded during the Twitter Party. RSVP and join us to see if you are lucky winner!
All winners, including the Early Bird winner, will be chosen at random from eligible Entrants who have RSVPed. For all other prizes, they will be awarded to those who are actively tweeting in the five (5) minutes prior to the prize being awarded.

This is from the rules of 1 of the parties... I am guessing they are generally the same but they may change.
 
I tried a few of these and, in all honesty, I found them to be relatively pointless exercises. I'm glad they offer prizes and happy that people are winning them, and it would seem that your odds of winning a prize is far greater than in your typical instant win sweeps, but for me the constant barrage of tweets and retweets and retweets of retweets was so annoying I simply quit. No offense, but there was a lot of forced enthusiam from a lot of the players and I simply stopped reading tweets except from the party hosts - so many 'oh, that's great!' and 'what a terrific product' tweets. Also, I just don't want to waste an hour of my time staring at the screen in order to answer the questions. Assuming there are 400 people playing and 5 prizes offered, you have a 1 in 80 chance of winning a prize, which appears to be great, but here's what made me realize how much time I would have spent trying to win 1 prize, say a $50 gift card: mathematically you have to enter 80 Twitter parties (assuming 400 players in each one) in order to win 1 prize. That's 80 hours to win $50, or 2 solid work-weeks, which means you're making 62.5 cents per hour. Again, no offense, but for me personally that kind of return isn't worth it!

But GLA :-)
 
I was thinking of the odds too and I think you are spot on. I have not really been paying attention to them since the first one I participated in, because that one was so hectic. Less than a hundred RSVP'd but there was definitely much more than that participating, and even until the last few minutes more new people popped up. Those participating tweeted their friends to join and others must of saw those who they were following participating, and so it was even more hectic and crowded. I could not pay attention at all with at least 100 tweets every minute, and there was only 1 prize on top of that but I bet it was a huge success for the company :D There was another party I was thinking of joining today since it said that there was over $750 worth of Visa gift cards as prizes so I assumed better odds, but in the official rules, they are all divided up and there are only 5 available. And already 1.2k have RSVP'd. It is not worth it with so few prizes and so many people. It really does seem like a waste of time.
 
I think this is an excellent topic, for anyone thinking about trying a Twitter Party. For most of us, it is new information, and this is an opportunity to learn pros and cons from other members' experiences. If you want to try it, keep in mind that every experience will be different, but if you find that this is for you, then you have found something that most sweepers are not doing.

It sounds both exciting and hectic to do this in real time, as meeska and others have said.

The SA Blog has a recent article on Twitter Parties, plus some of the comments on the article have links back to the Winner's Circle. I always like to know that people have really won!

Good luck to everyone who is ready to learn something new and give it a try. Post if you win, okay? :cool:

Here's the link to the SA Blog where you can read more:
http://www.sweepsadvantage.com/sweepstakes-contests-blog/twitter-parties-contests/
 
bluejenna4975 - I don't enter these so using Twitter Party in search I found a few threads on this:


http://www.sweepsadvantage.com/forum/questions-and-answers/73122-twitter-parties.html

meeska said:
I have been curious of twitter parties too... this is what I found;
Early Bird Prize Winners are randomly selected from all entries and awarded during the Twitter Party. RSVP and join us to see if you are lucky winner!
All winners, including the Early Bird winner, will be chosen at random from eligible Entrants who have RSVPed. For all other prizes, they will be awarded to those who are actively tweeting in the five (5) minutes prior to the prize being awarded.

This is from the rules of 1 of the parties... I am guessing they are generally the same but they may change.
Click to expand...


http://www.sweepsadvantage.com/forum/general-sweepstakes-talk/72985-how-do-twitter-parties-work.html

amyshulk said:
meeska - As for all promos, the rules are your guide.

A quick google of How do Twitter parties work netted me:

http://www.tweeparties.com/beginners_guide.html


It's time to take flight! But how to leave the nest? Here's a quick guide to getting started and preparing to attend your first Twitter party:

Sign up for a free Twitter account. If you don't have one already, fly on over to Twitter and get a free Twitter account. Click the large yellow "Sign Up" button found on the right side of your screen. Twitter will then take you through the process of creating a new account. Pick a username (or Twitter ID) that suits your personality. To join a Twitter party or chat, you must NOT make your account protected (or private), but rather accessible to everyone.

Get used to Twitter. Learn your way around Twitter a bit: follow some of your friends or people/organizations you are interested in (Start by following TweeParties!). Send a few tweets, see how your timeline updates with new posts once you start to follow others, and learn some of the Twitter terminology.

Find a Party. Once you've become more familiar with Twitter, it's time to PARTY! Find a party by checking out the links to calendars on our Twitter Party Resources Page. Some parties require that you register (or RSVP) in advance, some don't. The link to the party's page should make it clear what you need to do to attend.

Follow the Party Hosts. If you find a party to attend and click on the party link, you will see a list of the host(s) for that particular party, usually listed by their Twitter ID (such as @TweeParties). It's a good idea to follow them beforehand so that you can learn about any last-minute changes or updates to that party.

Follow the Party Hashtag. The hashtag is the key to the Twitter party. Think of it as a keyword (or phrase). It distinguishes itself from other words in a tweet because it has the "#" symbol before it (such as #tweeparties). Without it, parties wouldn't work. The party organizer or host chooses a specific hashtag for the party that each attendee must include in each tweet sent in order to be "seen" and included in the party. Without it, your tweet is just a tweet and won't be recognized as being part of the Twitter party. If you use a Twitter aggregator program (see next bullet point), these will automatically add the hashtag for you. Otherwise, you can search for the hashtag through the Twitter search feature, but this will require refreshing your browser to see the most recent tweets that use that hashtag. It's easier to participate in a party using a free Twitter aggregator program (see next section for more!)

Decide How You Will Follow the Party. As mentioned above, you can attend the party through Twitter alone -- you just need to follow the hosts and the #hashtag (I attended my first party this way). However, manually refreshing your Twitter page to get the latest tweets can become tedious. You might want to try a "Twitter Aggregator" program, or free software that compiles all tweets from a particular follower, hashtag or both! Popular aggregators that work well with the Twitter API v. 1.1 (relased in June 2013) are:Tweet Deck,Twubs, or TChat.io. Whatever program you choose, give it a try beforehand so you'll be better prepared in time for the event. For first time partygoers, we strongly recommend starting with Twubs or TChat.io. They are easy to use with their single column format. Try going to the TChat.io homepage, sign in (you will sign in with your Twitter ID and Twitter password) and enter the hashtag. Not only will the timeline automatically refresh itself, but any tweet you send will include the hashtag in your tweets, so you don't have to worry about forgetting to include it. If the tweets seem to be going too fast for you, you can pause them using the 'pause' button at the top of the screen.

Relax, Be Patient and Have Fun! It might take attending a party or two to really get the hang of Twitter parties. The more popular the topic or party, the faster-paced they might seem.. Don't worry about trying to view every tweet, take part in every conversation or chat with everyone at the party. Just sit back, say what's on your mind, explore the topic being discussed and have fun! But here's a tip for catching your breath: If you do use an aggregator program, you should have the ability to "stop" or "pause" your timeline (look for those buttons at the top of the timeline). Click to pause and the new tweets will stop appearing until you decide to it's time to resume. This pause feature will you a chance to catch up and read tweets you find interesting without feeling rushed.

AND:

What is a twitter party?

What Is a Twitter Party?

A twitter party is a fast and fun virtual party, using the twitter platform. Usually held in the evening, twitter parties typically last 1-2 hours and are a wonderful way for people to connect and discuss a topic of choice. Most twitter parties have an expert panelist and party host to keep the party on topic.

How does a twitter party work?

Twitter users tweet with a specified Hashtag (#) for the party. The party host will announce the hashtag prior to the event. If you look at the twitter party calendar, parties are listed by the hashtag (#). Users use their tweet chat client to search for the hashtag and join in the conversation. Tweetdeck and Tweetgrid make following a twitter party much easier.
Click to expand...
 
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kcmoviebuff said:
I tried a few of these and, in all honesty, I found them to be relatively pointless exercises. I'm glad they offer prizes and happy that people are winning them, and it would seem that your odds of winning a prize is far greater than in your typical instant win sweeps, but for me the constant barrage of tweets and retweets and retweets of retweets was so annoying I simply quit. No offense, but there was a lot of forced enthusiam from a lot of the players and I simply stopped reading tweets except from the party hosts - so many 'oh, that's great!' and 'what a terrific product' tweets. Also, I just don't want to waste an hour of my time staring at the screen in order to answer the questions. Assuming there are 400 people playing and 5 prizes offered, you have a 1 in 80 chance of winning a prize, which appears to be great, but here's what made me realize how much time I would have spent trying to win 1 prize, say a $50 gift card: mathematically you have to enter 80 Twitter parties (assuming 400 players in each one) in order to win 1 prize. That's 80 hours to win $50, or 2 solid work-weeks, which means you're making 62.5 cents per hour. Again, no offense, but for me personally that kind of return isn't worth it!

But GLA :-)
Click to expand...

The extreme force and massive NUMBER of tweets in each "party" are beyond large it is tremendous. I mean if you have never participated in a twitter party it is beyond your wildest expectations (trust me). I much prefer an entry form, and I wish sponsors would use an entry form. I have no problem with a form, BUT a twitter party ... no offense intended here just my opinion like the other opinions here... :( I agree with the posts in this thread!! I just gave a twitter party another try today, and ended up deleting like twenty of my tweets and replies. Ho hum! It's also some work if you keep up with the twitter party tweets. I'm also not the overly enthusiastic personality type and pretty much everyone on the parties is LOL!!
 
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