The Brits makes the most of Twitter

This is my 8th year using Twitter.  While I have found it a cool way to keep in touch & catch up on news, I haven't seen too much of it's marketing  power unless you follow specific hastags, or people you follow RT specific hashtags.  It's power of engagement I have found short lived. Until recently.

About a month ago we noticed one of our colleagues chatting with people on Twitter with the hashtag #KentHour.  Being one of a curious nature, I wanted to find out what #KentHour was.  What I found was a community of people & businesses in the Kent county, catching up on what was happening locally and networking their businesses.  So my curiosity lead me to find out if Cornwall had something similar. Yes it did. At that time it was a friendly steady flow of businesses following each other & promoting Cornwall.

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UK Twitter Hours

Was there more I wondered?  Yes.  In fact there are thriving communities in various counties, hobbies, interests and genres in the whole of the UK, all enjoying their hour.  These hour's vary between once a week to every day of the week.  Various people & businesses host these hours & keep the conversation flowing.  Different topics or news events get thrown around to keep the flow going.  These topics can vary between: 

What's happening during the school holidays - people will discuss where they are visiting, businesses will tell them what they have available in the area.

What the weather is doing - Became an important tool during the recent bad UK storms when businesses became isolated because of flood & breakdowns in transport.  They all rallied in different areas to declare they were #OpenForBusiness !

What's happening in the news? - Fashion, Crime, Entertainment ... if it's happening there are corresponding businesses & communities who are ready to hear what they have to say.  Latest movie out?  "Where is it showing?" , "Where to go for dinner before or afterwards?".  Latest fashion "Where can you buy it?".  Crime reports - "Where is it happening & what security measure can be taken to fight it, and from who can you get these services?"

The list goes on!

Recently my father-in-law asked us if we had heard of the #CornwallHour & did we know they had meetups.  He had heard about them on the radio.  They are now part of mainstream media too.

So why hadn't I heard about these before?  I'd lived in Australia & used Twitter quite regularly until mid 2013, and never heard of them.  So I decided to see if I had been missing out something that was always available.  It appears not.  I did a search for Australian, US & Canada hours, and found nothing. So either they aren't happening or not being documented or indexed, because when I did a search for UK Twitter Hours I found LOTS.

Maybe the Brits are on to something!  Maybe this is part of their business comeback, despite the weather setbacks or in spite of weather setbacks.  It doesn't really matter how or why, but judging by how fast these Twitter streams are running & the amount of interaction between users, I would say they are here to stay for a while. Which personally I think is a PLUS.

Want to create an hour where you are?  It's pretty simple to do!

1. Create a Twitter account. i.e. twitter.com/CornwallHour
2. Decide on a time during the week that would be good for you (TIP: 8pm - 9pm Mon-Thur seems to be popular times)
3. Spread it around that it is a happening thing.  Tell everyone to hastag their status updates on Twitter.  "Good evening #CornwallHour, how is everyone in #Cornwall tonight?"
4. Introduce topics that will get people talking & relating their business, hobby, service or craft to.
5. ReTweet followers posts. Not all, just select ones each week.

 

How to Follow a Twitter Hour?

1. Do a search for the hour - i.e. a search on #CornwallHour will bring up a stream with the #CornwallHour on it.
2. Join in!

 

You may find it starts slow.  But if you push it around among the community, businesses, friends & social media junkies, it will soon pick up.  Just in the 4 weeks I have been following various hours, I have seen them increase their user interaction a LOT.

Don't forget.... if you do get a successful "hour" up & pumping, to have the occassional meetup.  You'll be surprised at how many opportunities can open up when face to face with people you have been networking with over the year!

Take networking to a new level!
UK Twitter Hours