Karen Greco of PRforSmarties.com shares publicty strategies.

Ever wonder what the deal is with Public Relations?

Well, here’s your chance to listen in as I chat with New York based PR pro, Karen Greco of PRforSmarties.com.

Here’s what we’ll be covering:

• What is Public Relations?
• What are the tools of the trade?
• What does the PR time line look like?

NOTE: If you’re in New York, Karen is offering a 25% discount to The Smarties Solution – designed specifically to help theater companies with limited budgets create and implement a strategic media campaign. Just use code: DaveC at checkout. Check it out now, the offer ends Sept. 30th.

Listen. Comment. Share.

(For some reason it sounds like I forgot how to enunciate. Oops!)

Want to take this podcast with you? Now you can subscribe to New Media Conversations with Dave Charest. <== Click the link then the blue “View in iTunes” button under the picture. Click “Subscribe Free” in iTunes.

There’s a lot of talk about Twitter these days.

And it’s also leaving a lot of arts organizations scratching their heads.

“How do we use this thing to connect with our audience?”

Both the NY Neo-Futurists and Dance Theater Workshop have found creative ways to involve their Twitter communities, drive traffic to their websites and bring in new audience members, all while remaining true to their brand.

In this interview, Jeffrey Cranor, of the NY Neo-Futurists, and Jillian Sweeney, formerly of Dance Theater Workshop, share their thoughts on what’s been successful for them so far. If you’ve been wondering how you might get your organization started, this interview gives you plenty to think about in terms of engaging your audience.

We cover 3 core topics in which Jeffrey and Jillian share:

1. How they got started on Twitter
2. What they’ve found using Twitter so far
3. What they’d suggest to other artist’s just starting on Twitter

Listen. Comment. Share.

* This podcast was originally created in Sept. ’09.

Want to take this podcast with you? Now you can subscribe to New Media Conversations with Dave Charest. <== Click the link then the blue “View in iTunes” button under the picture. Click “Subscribe Free” in iTunes.

It amazes me how many businesses don’t take responsibility for their mistakes.

And after this episode in the theater world unfolded online, it seems this lack of judgement is not restricted to business alone. Of course, most of the time there’s a chance to make it right. And I find myself disappointed again.

What’s wrong? Doesn’t anyone take responsibility any more?

Funny, I made this episode before learning of the events above. So I guess it’s not only in NY.

Watch this short video:

What do think? Have I lost my mind?

Amy Wratchford from ASC discusses creating a social media plan.

A while back I was lucky enough to speak with The American Shakespeare Center‘s Managing Director, Amy Wratchford, for a 2am theatre podcast.

In that discussion we were only able to scratch the surface of ASC’s social media plans. We decided to take deeper look in this New Media Conversation.

Breaking Down Social Media: An In-Depth Look At Creating a Social Media Plan

In this discussion we cover three key areas:

1. The Social Media Frame
2. How Websites Work Today
3. Choosing the Right Tools (And What To Do With Them)

Listen. Comment. Share.

(There’s a bit of a weird audio thing that happens for a little bit at the end of the audio. It gets better after a few seconds. We were having a lot of trouble keeping connected during the call. Apologies.)

Here’s a link to Amy’s post on, Social Media Guidelines.

Recently, Julie Burt Nichols, Social Media Manager at Bailiwick Chicago asked some questions of various people involved in social media to get their perspectives for the Bailiwick Backstage blog.

Since the focus of the piece shifted to strictly Chicago Storefront theaters, we decided to use the interview here. So thank you to Julie for asking the questions.

After you read my answers, I’d love to hear your answers in the comments below.

1. What role is social media playing in the theater world?

In general, I believe social media offers an extended network of opportunity. It allows you to make connections with people you may never have met any other way. Take this interview for example. If it wasn’t for social media, would this conversation have happened? Probably not.

In the theater world specifically it allows everyone a louder voice. It’s eliminated the reliance on old media as the platform. The tools are available to build your own platform. Moreover you can listen, respond and interact directly with your audience.

This allows current and new audiences to get to know, like and trust you, which should be the basis for any long-term marketing strategy.

The great thing is that there are tools that allow anyone to join in regardless of your budget. Everyone from Broadway all the way to the local dinner theater can get involved. That’s exciting.

2. Is social media a valuable use of resources in this sector, considering the time and effort it takes to build these kinds of relationships with patrons/artists?

It’s valuable if you look at it in a smart way. Many people think social media is a quick fix. Just set up a Facebook page and blast people, then they’ll show up. When that doesn’t work, people blame the tool. When in fact it was really they way the tool was being used.

Instead, if you look at it in the long-term, as a way for people to get closer to your organization and the work you do. A way for you to show the PEOPLE involved with your organization, you’ll find the relationships pay off. And as with anything, you need to set-up a schedule that works for you. If that means, 20-minutes a day. Fine. You’ve just got to decide what’s most valuable for you to do with that time.

3. Is it too easy? What are the dangers of using social media for this purpose?

The only dangers I see are thinking it’s just another broadcast channel. But even if you make mistakes that’s great. As long as you’re open to learning from them. It’s like a constant rehearsal. Go for it. Evaluate. Make adjustments. Then go for it again. Now that I think about it, the only real danger is doing nothing at all.

4. Does it have a valuable return in relationship to the demographic it reaches?

I don’t really look at it terms of demographic. I look at it in terms of actual people. Did someone talk about us that wouldn’t have done so otherwise? Did we rekindle a relationship with someone we haven’t heard from in a long time? Did someone new come volunteer? Did people come to a show and then encourage their friends to do the same? Those things are valuable. Social media is still only only one aspect of the big picture. But it works well to enhance the other things you’re doing.

5. What are the pros and cons of social media in the various theater markets?

I’m not sure about the difference in various theater markets but in general, I would say:

Pros: inexpensive, fun, you meet new like-minded people, it creates new opportunities and collaborations, allows you to share your story, allows you to showcase the people you work with and your audience, amongst other things.

Cons: You can get sucked into the rabbit hole if you don’t limit your time, there is a learning curve (but that’s not too much of a con,) it’s easy to give up on if you don’t set goals for what you’re trying to accomplish.

Hmm…That’s all I got at the moment.

What about you? What role do you think social media is playing in the theater world?

Is there a better way to greet your website visitors?

It’s nice to show up at someone’s home and be greeted by the welcome mat.

Aside from the aesthetics, the mat also serves a distinct purpose- it allows you to clean your shoes before you enter the house.

A welcome mat in front of your home makes sense. But think about this…

Does a welcome mat make sense on your website?

What purpose does it serve? It not like anyone needs to wipe their shoes.

And I’m not even talking about those nonsense pages that ask you to ‘enter’ the site. If I didn’t want to enter, why would I be there?

I’m talking about once I’m into the site and all I see is ‘welcome.’

And it’s not exactly all that compelling. Think about it. What if you stripped every website of everything but the headline and they each said ‘welcome?’

Not exactly the best use of real estate is it? Especially at a time where people can spend less than four seconds on a website before they decide to click away. Four seconds. Not much time to grab someones attention is it?

What’s better than a welcome mat?

A compelling headline. Something that allows the visitor to know where they are, what they’re in for and why they should stay.

Stuck?

Ask yourself these questions:

1. What do you do?
2. Who do you do it for?
3. So what? (Repeat this question a few times.)

Notice how you get to something a bit more compelling than “welcome.”

Start there.

So ditch the welcome mat

Instead of the mat, make visitors feel welcome with the tone of your words. Your personality. Compelling content.

But don’t waste their time with a welcome mat. It just might make them go away.

Try it out. Let me know what you come up with.

What do you think? Is ‘welcome’ a waste of valuable space?

You’ll notice some things have changed here. For one, the design. But before that happened there was some messiness to clean up in terms of disconnects.

What’s a disconnect? And how can it reduce the chances of people sticking around and taking action?

Watch today’s Walks With Dave to find out:

(Transcript included if you’d rather read.)

Here’s the transcript for those who’d rather read:

Hi, guys. This is Dave Charest from the newly minted DaveCharest.com, and welcome to another episode of Walks With Dave.

Today, we’re talking a bit about a new name and a new design. I just wanted to touch base with you guys. I promised we would go into some depth about what was going on with the redesign here.

Just to recap a bit, we had decided that I had way too many things going on. I have been working with Pamela Wilson from the Big Brand System to clarify things, make things look better and then give us a nice little package to look a little bit more professional, which is very important because first impressions, as we know, can often be the difference between someone working with you and someone choosing not to, or coming back and visiting your site or whatnot.

Making it easier to come back

So some of the things that we had going, as I have mentioned in a previous post, is that we’ve had my main business, which is CaseAceCopy.com (currently in re-design,) which is my copywriting business.

I also had this idea for FuzzBucket.org (also in re-design,) which is going to be the membership/training site for people who want to work on courses. It’s basically a safe-zone for collaborative learning.

Basically, what I had done was my main site was already up, which was CaseAceCopy. I had added the blog to there. So the URL was CaseAceCopy.com/blog (This now redirects here at DaveCharest.com,) but I had named the blog FuzzBucket. So already what was happening there is I am creating a disconnect.

What’s wrong with disconnects?

Anytime you create a disconnect, you are lessening the chances of somebody sticking around, taking an action or doing something. You are putting a little bump in the way.

What was happening is for one, when you get to the website, I had FuzzBucket.org redirecting to CaseAceCopy.com/blog. And for some time, when I decided I was going to make these changes, I actually had DaveCharest.com redirecting to the CaseAceCopy.com/blog.

So what’s happening is you are typing in CaseAce… or you’re typing in FuzzBucket.org or you’re typing in DaveCharest.com and you’re getting redirected to CaseAceCopy.com/blog.

I’m already confusing myself

Now, what happens is because that’s different from what the person was looking for or what they typed in or assuming they were going to end up to, that already sets off a little hiccup. It sets off a disconnect. It put people in the, “Okay. What’s going on here?” mode. So already, the person is a little confused.

Then the blog said FuzzBucket. So again, that’s another disconnect because, depending on what you are typing in, you are not ending up at the right place, and then the URL that you end up on also doesn’t match the name of the blog. So that’s very confusing.

As I was making these Walks With Dave videos, I was sort of confusing myself because I found myself saying things like, “Welcome to another episode of Walks With Dave. This is Dave Charest from the CaseAceCopy blog FuzzBucket.org.” It’s like, “Okay. Come on. Really? That’s enough.”

So now, it’s simple. It’s Walks With Dave at DaveCharest.com. Nice and easy.

And a fancy new look too

DaveCharest.com is now, as you can see if you’re taking a look around, newly redesigned. We’ll be making slight adjustments here and there, but for the most part this is going to be the basic design idea.

Now how did we end up with this?

Well, one of the things we had decided was that of all of the things that we were using and all of the things that we were doing, what was most important or most memorable was actually me.

So we wanted to make my name, my image, and all of that stuff, we wanted that stuff to be prominent on the site because that’s what people were associating with me. And I agree with that statement, and I would love to hear to your thoughts on that as well. So that’s what we did. So we decided to go that route.

What was important?

What’s important to me, as we were going through this redesign, was that it was something that was clean, something that was simple, and also something that looked attainable.

A lot of times you can go to these sites and you’re just like, “Whoa. That’s like a crazy site, and I’ll never have something like that.” What’s important for me is, as I’m doing this and I’m making strides and getting further with my business, I always want it to look like something that you can do, because I think that’s what important is that, again, I always talk about the importance of why doing things wrong is better than waiting to do things right.

You’re just getting moving and you’re doing things and you can make these adjustments as you go along. I think that’s really important to just feel that you don’t need to wait around for the perfect thing. You’ve got to work with you’ve got. If you can afford a free WordPress blog with a regular theme, then that’s what you start with.

But then your goal is to eventually get to the next level

You’re always going to be thinking about “how do I get to that next level?” Because when you’re thinking like that, that’s going to get you moving forward. That’s going to get you there, as opposed to saying, “Well, I’m never going to have that. I can’t really do this.”

Who cares what you can’t do?

I’m more interested in what you can do. So that’s what was really important to me when I spoke with Pamela was that it needs to look attainable, something that you can achieve. Then who knows? Maybe a few years down the line, I will want to do another redesign because I’ll hit another level with my business. But, this is where we are at now.

So basically what we’re going to do is, as I mentioned, the sites are separate now.

CaseAceCopy.com is going to be my copywriting business. FuzzBucket.org is going to be the training site. And DaveCharest.com is like the home base. The one thing that kind of flows through all of these things is Wicked Smaht.

A secret club?

Now, Wicked Smaht is the email updates and newsletter (Yes, you should sign-up.) That’s really like a little secret club. The people who take that extra step can sign up for that. We get things a little more in depth, and we get things a little different than you would normally get on the blog. So it’s different things.

It really feels like a secret club to me. It’s like a little group of people that we share emails back and forth and we talk about things. It’s really a cool thing.

Which leads to the tagline…

So that’s really how we came up with the tagline, “Wicked Smaht Marketing Tips for Indie Artists.” If we are going to say it in full Boston accent, it is “Wicked Smaht Mahketing Tips for Indie Ahtists.” I will have a funny story about that for you another time. But if you want to own it, that’s how you say it.

So now, what will happen is we’re going to take this existing header. We’re going to modify it a bit for each of the other sites. So CaseAceCopy.com and FuzzBucket.org will still be under my brand name and the same type of header feel, but we’ll probably just make a few adjustments with color and things like that.

It’s amazing how simple changes make a big difference

We fixed that whole issue with the disconnects, as I mentioned.

Also, if you subscribe to the blog through RSS, it would be a good idea to resubscribe. The feed is now Dave Charest. It’s not the FuzzBucket feed any longer. So if you were subscribing, you may want to resubscribe to make sure that you get updates from the blog.

So like I said, we made those changes, where we said, “Okay. We’ve got to get rid of these disconnects. Good. Now, we’ve got everything under one name, and now we need to fix up the other sites to get those flowing together. And Wicked Smaht is really the thing that kind of ties it all together.”

Now if you take a look around

Really all we’ve done is make a few adjustments. Mainly, we put a new header on. We pulled the colors from the shirt that I was wearing in my photo. Pamela did a great job of getting this stuff together, and I’m going to show you some of the concepts that she came up with first and then how we got to the one that we ended up using.

I’m probably going to do that in another post, because that’s a little bit more detailed and we’ll look at those more in depth. I’ll see as I’m putting this together how we’ll work that out.

What else did we do?

Then the other thing is we added the background color. The background color really makes everything pop. It’s funny when you get these themes, regardless of what they are, play around with them a little bit. One of the things that we found was really important that we kept it really to two primary colors, because when we started adding another thing, it just made it too busy. Again, we wanted something that was clean and simple.

So take a look around. Tell us what you think in the comments below.

I really hope you enjoy it. I think it definitely adds a whole new level when you get here, and it adds a first impression.

So like I said, it’s going to be really interesting to see what happens now as I start promoting things and creating more content and creating more cool stuff for you guys that how it’s going to be received now that there is a more professional image on the thing.

So guys, thanks again for watching

Walks With Dave. DaveCharest.com. We’ll see you again soon. Bye-bye.

People always ask how I shoot these videos. I use the Flip Mino HD Camcorder, 60 minutes - Amazon Affiliate link. There’s a newer version available also. I also use the Pocket xShot to hold the camera.

You may have heard about Kickstarter. It’s essentially a new way to fund your creative project.

What’s cool is that Kickstarter allows you to run an ‘all or nothing’ goal-based campaign. You set a goal and timeframe, promote your project and people pledge money. But no money changes hands until you reach or surpass the goal. At which point Kickstarter collects a fee of 5%.

Creators also keep 100% ownership over their project.

So how do you run a kick-ass Kickstarter campaign?

Dave chats with Julie Keck and Jessica King

That’s exactly what I discuss with Indie Filmmaking/Screenwriting duo Jessica King and Julie Keck, aka King is a Fink.

They’re at the tail end of their Kickstarter campaign for TILT – An Indepent Thriller, with collaborators, Phil Holbrook – Director and Cinematographer – Jeremy Doyle.

As of the time of this interview, they are 93% towards their goal with only 3 days to go. If you dig what they’re doing be sure to back the project.

Here’s what we cover in the interview

We explore three key areas:

1. How to get started with Kickstarter
2. How to promote your Kickstarter campaign
3. What happens after you reach your goal?

Listen. Comment. Share.

Did we miss anything in this conversation? Do you have any Kickstarter tips to share?

Have you noticed that some websites/blogs have a little icon (favicon) next to the web address in the browser? Pretty cool, huh? But then you look at your website and all you have is this little globe icon in the address bar.

Before: BORING!

Today, I’m going to show you how to add a favicon to the thesis theme for WordPress. This way people think YOUR website/blog is the cool one.

How to Generate a Favicon

Those cool little icons are called favicons. And here’s how you make one using an already existing picture, logo or graphic:

1. Go to: http://www.html-kit.com/favicon/ (Thanks to Pamela Wilson of Big Brand System for letting me know about this site.)

2. Create your favicon by uploading a file. Or you can log-in to use your profile image from Twitter.

Two options to upload your file.

I just used my Twitter name to upload the picture. Once you click the ‘Generate Favicon.ico’ button the site creates both a normal and animated favicon. Before you download the Favicon Package, you can customize some of the options.

For example, I deleted the animated version. But I added  the iPhone / iPod Touch / iPad icon. I also ended up using a black and white version because the color version looked too pixelated once it was actually on the site.

Then click ‘Download Favicon Package’ to save the files to your computer.

Download your new favicons to your computer.

Upload the favicon to your website

Once you download the favicon package you’ll need to upload the file(s) using an FTP client. I use Cyberduck for Mac OS.

You’ll want to add the ‘favicon.ico’ file to the root directory of your WordPress blog. In my case it’s the folder for http://davecharest.com. If there is already a ‘favicon.ico’ file there just overwrite it with the new one.

Insert the script

Login to your WordPress dashboard. Go to: Thesis Options > Site Options > Additional Scripts

In the additional scripts box paste the following code:

<link rel=”shortcut icon” href=”favicon.ico” >

Click the save button and you should be good to go. You can even validate your installation here. You may need to empty the cache in your browser before you see any changes.

Happy, happy! Joy, joy!

Did I miss anything in this tutorial? If you found it helpful please share it.

Add a link to your site in the comments below so we can check out your new favicon.

Ah, yes, Twitter. Another tool and another new language to learn. But once you get the hang of it you’ll be a master of Twitter in no time. So to make this as simple as possible, here’s a quick rundown of the basics.

The Twitter Homepage

When you log-in to your Twitter account your Twitter homepage displays. Here’s what you can expect:

Here’s the information you’ll see at the top of your Twitter Homepage

1. What’s happening?

In the box below is where you’ll type your tweet, or status update. As you type in the box, you’ll notice a counter on the top right of the box that starts to countdown from 140. This lets you know how close you are to reaching the character limit. You’ll be able to write past the 140 character limit but you won’t be able to post until you edit your tweet down to 140 characters or less.

2. Your latest tweet

Just below the ‘What’s happening?’ update box, you’ll see your latest tweet, or status update. Isn’t it cute!

3. Following

This is the people you’re following. Click on the ‘following’ link and you’ll be brought to a page that shows a list of all the people you’re following. From this page, you’ll be able to click a person’s name to see their profile. And if they’re following you also, you’ll be able to send them a direct message. (More about a direct message on later in this post.)

4. Followers

These are the people following you. Click on the ‘followers’ link and a list of the people following you displays. On this page you’ll be able to follow your followers, if you choose, by clicking on the follow icon next to the person’s name. You can also block a person from following you and seeing your updates if it looks like a spam account or if it’s just someone you don’t want following you. If you’re already following a person on this list you’ll also be able to un-follow them from this screen.

5. Listed

This number indicates how many lists others have put you on. There are a number a number of advanced ways to use lists. For the basics check here: How to Use Twitter Lists.

6. Twitter Definition

In this box, Twitter shows the definition of something to do with Twitter-land you may find of interest.

The Twitter Stream and Sidebar

This is where you’ll read the updates of your followers. In the sidebar, you can access pages mentioning your account, direct messages, tweets you’ve marked as favorites, saved searches and trending topics.

1. Twitter Stream

When you post a tweet, it’s broadcast into your stream or timeline. It’s also visible in the streams of your followers. Keep in mind this doesn’t mean everyone following you will actually see it. The Twitter stream moves quickly, and depending on how many people your followers are following, your tweet may be pushed off the screen before they have a chance to see it. But if someone goes to your profile page they’ll be able to see your last 3,200 tweets (according to BackupMyTweets.com).

Note: Others who aren’t following you can read your tweets too, but they have to go looking for them as they are not broadcast directly into their stream.

The Twitter Stream is also where you’ll be able to read the tweets of the people you follow. The stream itself only lists 20 tweets. But you can load up more by clicking on the “more” button at the bottom of the page.

The Sidebar

2. @[YourUserName] or Mentions

If you click on this link, you’ll be brought to a screen that shows just the tweets that mention your Twitter name. This tool helps you quickly reply to any tweets that need your direct attention. It also indicates someone has replied to your tweet or replied to you directly.

The @YourUsername link shows the updates mentioning you

How to reply to someone directly

If you want to reply to a tweet, or direct a tweet to a specific person, you do so by clicking on the reply arrow next to the tweet. The arrow is visible on the right side when you hover your pointer on the tweet. Your message then begins with @[person's name] and will show up in their mentions stream. It will also indicate that it’s in reply to a specific tweet. This information is located at the bottom of the tweet.

QuirkyKnitGirl asks a question.

AndieArthur responds to QuirkyKnitGirl while mentioning me. Click the time stamp to show the tweet on its own page.

My reply to AndieArthur while also mentioning others. Clicking on the "in reply to" link brings up the tweet I'm responding to.

Clicking the date and time at the bottom of the update brings you to the page for the individual tweet. You can also see what the tweet is in reply to by clicking the ‘in reply to’ link at the bottom of the page.

Note: These tweets are public and can be viewed by anyone. If you want to send a private message to someone who is following you, you can use the direct message function.

3. Direct Messages, DM

Click on the message link to send a direct message to a person who is following you, in the example above you’d be sending a message to user PRforSmarties. These messages are private between you and the receiver.

If you want to speak with someone privately, send a direct message or DM. You can only send direct messages to people who are following you. To send someone a DM go to the person’s profile page by clicking on their Twitter name. In the sidebar of their page you’ll see a link to message this person. If you do not see the message link on the person’s profile page, it means they are not following you and you cannot send a DM to them.

4. Twitter Search

If you want to find information about a topic, just type it into the search box. Twitter gives you results in real time using the search terms provided. You’ll also be able to save these searches for later reference. You can find out more about the power of Twitter searches in my Free Beginner’s Guide to Twitter.

Using Twitter search you can find real-time results on any topic people are tweeting about.

5. Trending Topics

The trending topics list shows you what the majority of people are tweeting about at any given moment.

If you click a trend, a search screen for that particular trending topic displays and shows real time results.

The Re-Tweet: Expanding Your Reach and Giving Credit Where Credit is Due

When someone posts a tweet of particular interest, people tend to re-tweet (RT) it. This means if you post a link or interesting tweet your message has the potential to reach a larger audience.

How do you re-tweet a message?

You do this by copying a tweet and pasting it in your tweet box at the top of the screen. You then give credit to the original tweeter in one of two ways. The first way is by typing the following at the beginning of the message: RT (space) @[person's name] (message). Or you can write this at the end of a message: (via @[person’s name]). Consider this your re-tweet footnote.

Twitter’s re-tweet update

Twitter also allows you to RT a message to your followers simply by clicking a button on the bottom right of a tweet. But you’re unable to edit or add commentary to the tweet. Your followers see an exact duplicate of the message in their stream.

Click the ReTweet button to send an exact duplicate of the tweet into your followers stream. You won’t be able to edit or add comments to the tweet.

Manual Re-tweet Examples:

A Re-Tweet using the RT @username method.

Re-Tweet using (via @username.)

Note: It’s important to leave a space between the RT and the @ symbol. Essentially you’re writing code that the Twitter gods understand. Without the space the original tweeter’s name becomes un-clickable and the person won’t know you mentioned them. (See below.)

Be sure to add a space after 'RT' so the username is clickable.

Why Re-Tweet?

Re-tweeting allows you to share information your followers may find interesting. Re-tweeting also improves the chances of your tweets being RT’d. Some people even put ‘Please RT’ at the end of the tweet, but for every person who says you should do that, there’s another who says not to. So you can try it out and see what gets the best results for you.

The overall best method to get a re-tweet is great content. Also interact with people and RT other’s posts. Once you make these connections with people the likelihood of RT’s increases. In fact, I find after having a conversation with someone, there’s the offer of “Let me know if you need something RT’d.” So as they say, “Give to Get.”

Tip: If you keep your tweet to 120 characters or less, other people can easily RT your message without having to edit it for length.

Hash Tags (#): Uh, what?

The number sign put before a string of words is considered a hash tag event. What’s the purpose? This is where the real fun and possibilities of Twitter begins. It’s basically a way for everyone in the Twitterverse to follow and have a conversation about the same topic. Find out How to Choose a Hashtag for your event.

Here’s a simple example:

The above folks are having a lively discussion with the theater hashtag #2amt.

Now you speak Twitter!

So go practice your new language skills. Get in there and make some noise.

Was there anything I missed?

New to Twitter? Check out Dave’s Free Beginner’s Guide to Twitter.