Twitter chats allow participants to have conversations centered on a common interest, hot topic or profession. Every participant tags their tweets with the chat’s hashtag so everyone else in the chat can see their contributions to the conversation.

Following the chat’s hashtag allows you to see tweets from all participants, even if you do not already follow them. Typically, chats have a moderator who asks questions to the group. When chatting, each participant indicates the question they’re answering and the chat’s hashtag. To keep up with the conversation, you should install an application such as TweetDeck or use a web-based service such as TweetChat that will help you separate tweets with the chat hashtag. This post from Meryl.net lists several chat-friendly applications.

If you’re a public relations student, there are two main reasons to participate in a Twitter chat: You’ll gain new insight into the topic and expand your network on Twitter.

Chats help you gain new insight. Twitter is a gold mine of information waiting to be discovered by those who look for it. Once you jump in and start chatting, you’ll gain access to all of that information and the unique perspectives of all other participants.

For a public relations student, the most popular chat is the PR Student Chat (#PRStudChat). The chat’s LinkedIn page states that it exists to facilitate “dynamic conversation about the Public Relations Industry and to provide opportunities for learning, networking and mentoring relationships.” Questions are designed to facilitate conversation and to allow each participant to gain new insight into the public relations field.

Chats help you expand your network. Chats throw you into conversation with dozens, even hundreds, of other tweeters. It’s impossible to connect individually with every person from the chat, but as you answer the questions and respond to others, you’ll naturally form conversations with a few people. Follow those people on Twitter, thank them for the insightful conversation you had and keep the dialogue going! You might not gain loads of new followers, but you’ll definitely get the chance to converse with other users and expand your professional network.

If you really want to see how chats can help you learn more about public relations and grow your professional network, jump into a chat. Not sure which to join? Check out this list.

– Paige Landsem, Account Executive