[ Here by error? CLICK HERE to learn why! ]
Confused about Twitter? sOCial sunday has your man! Kevin Sablan is the leader of the Register’s web task force and blogs independently about hyperlinks on Almighty Link. This week’s “twip” …
People on Twitter use a hashtag (a word preceded with the pound sign - #) to signal that a message is about a particular topic or event. Oftentimes, that event is an online chat.
For example, #brandchat is a conversation about personal branding that takes place every Wednesday at 8 am. Here is a a tweet from @Yuricon captured from last week’s conversation:
You don’t need special software to participate in a Twitter chats, but here are 3 tools that make the process much simpler than using the Twitter web site:
Roomatic is a good start, because it greets you with a list of clickable “hot topics” that usually contains at least one hashtag. Clicking on a hashtag brings up a box with current tweets containing that tag — what Roomatic calls a “chatroom.” A sound plays when new messages are added. Jump into the chat by clicking on “sign in” at the bottom of the page. Roomatic uses a technology called OAuth, so they never see your password. Once logged in, Romatic will automatically add the hashtag to the end of anything you tweet from the bottom of the chatroom.
Tweetchat is like a silent Roomatic, without the helpful list of topics as a starting point. Instead, the first thing you do when you visit Tweetchat, is log in by divulging your Twitter username and password. If you’re worried about security, click on the “password-free beta version” link instead. Once logged in, you’ll need to enter the hashtag for the chat you want to follow. This will bring up the stream of tweets, in much larger type than Roomatic. If the a chat moves too quickly, you can pause or adjust the speed at which the page refreshes. You can also block users or highlight your friends.
Tweetgrid prefers to call hashtag conversations “parties.” Click on the party button from Tweetgrid’s home page to get started, then enter the party’s hashtag and your Twitter username. If you know the username of someone moderating the conversation, enter that as the party “host.” You’ll be brought to a page with the main stream of tweets in a column on the left, the host’s tweets in the middle, and your tweets on the right. To join a conversation, tweet into the box at the top and enter your Twitter username and password. If you just want to listen, you can hide that box altogether.
Want to practice your Twitter chatting skills? There’s an Orange County online “tweetup” every Wednesday at 9 am. Mark the date and use one of the tools above, along with the #tworco hashtag, to join in.
Next week, I’ll share a list of other regularly-scheduled Twitter chats, for now here is some information about hashtags:
- Anatomy of a Hashtag Chat
- The Twitter #Hashtag Hijacker
- TweetChats - The Cool New Way to Network and Learn on Twitter
Interested in how links connect people, companies and news organizations? Follow Kevin Sablan on Twitter @ksablan.
[ MORE: TWITTER BITS | MOBILE | JON | REAL ESTATE ]
Are you aware that someone has hacked into my cli.gs account to redirect my links to this page?
I became aware of this problem this morning and tried to get in touch with the people at Cli.gs. I just got off the phone with Pierre Far, the creator of the URL shortening service, and will post what I know shortly. For now, you can get an update about the attack on this Cli.gs blog post: Cligs Got Hacked - Restoration from Backup Started.
Hey Todd, have your affected URLs been restored yet? Cligs teld me that the restoration should be complete by the end of the week, when they’ll be switching to a largely overhauled system.
hi there i have also been hijacked and my cligs have been redirected to your site. how did this happen ?
Yeah, seriously…. wow. I hope this is fixed soon.
Mine is not fixed yet
I am clicking on Hellmann’s Mayonaise and this is the screen I am getting !!
Yes, I clicked on alot of icons to get some coupons and it comes straight to this site.
Hopefully, the links that you followed to this post will be fixed over the weekend, when the people at Cligs anticipate moving over to new servers.
There is a new post on the Cligs blog, saying that the restoration is “going very smoothly.”
The link at the top of this post points to another post that explains what happened. Short version: Cligs was hacked and 2.2 million URLs were changed to point to the post you are reading now.
My cli.gs got hijacked and all I got was this lame excuse for a website?
link….. FAIL!!!
I was trying to get a coupon and it keeps sending me to the oc register. Why?
I HAVE NO IDEA WHATS GOING ON BUT I`M CLICKING ON “QUAKERS OATMEAL CEREAL COUPONS” AND I KEEP GETTING DIRECTED TO THIS SITE. CAN ANYONE TELL ME HOW TO GET TO MY COUPONS?
why does it keep sending me to this oc web site
Hi to who ever is reading: I am funnyfacepoetess winner of the fudge and cookies @sedonatv.com giveaway!
You can also email me at :
libbyanne2012@sbcglobal.net
All my information (snail mail address and phone number was sent from this address)
Wow! thanks again!
What the hell?
It’s the end of the week, but links are still pointing to this page. I was quite happy with Cligs; but … it gives me pause now.
Seems like Cli.gs can’t control their security.
I’ve asked for my account to be removed immediately, I don’t want to be using a site that has such weak security as this.
Has anyone considered the legal implications of this situation?
I was looking for coupons and kept getting this oc page
WHY?????????????????????????????