Twitter/Social Media Guide

A quick guide to Twitter

Part of the success of the Equity by Design movement relies on our ability to rapidly communicate ideas, research and shared resources. We rely heavily on social media along with our website to provide information in a clear and direct way. During our events over the past few years, we have discovered the impact of live tweeting of our symposia and workshop events with great success. The following guide was started by Karen Robichaud, Communications Editor at Payette Associates. A few more things have been added to provide a framework to build the Matrices for Equity.

FAQ's of Twitter

What is a "Tweet" - 140 Characters to share a quote, state an idea, share an article, or have a discussion.

What is a "Retweet?" -  Sharing Tweets with your followers - as is, no comments or changes.

What is a "Quote Tweet"? - Sharing Tweet with your followers and adding a 140 character Tweet in front

What is a "Live Tweet"? - Tweeting at an event to capture speaker quotes and active attendee discussion 

What is a "Tweet Chat?" - Tweeting using a Hashtag at a declared time/date to have a group discussion

What are the symbols used within a Tweet? - ie., "@" and "#", RT, MT #FF

@ signals a reference to a person or organization

  • Ex: @EquityxDesign = Equity by Design; @RosaSheng = Rosa Sheng.
  • Look for the symbol for Twitter verified accounts.
  • Use: “Thanks @karenelainer for participating in today’s #EQXDChat”
  • Use: “@liaspcly of @wrnsstudio & co-chair of Equity by Design shares her journey of resilience”
  • Use: “So excited for #EQXDM3! Who’s @EquityxDesign Symposium?”

Follow us!

# signals a topic

Example: #EQXDCulture #EQXDCommit #EQXDatWork #EattheWhale

Many events create a #hashtag to track conversation

  • #EQXDM3 for the 2016 Equity by Design Symposium
  • #EQXDChat for monthly Equity by Design chats on a range of topics

People get creative with these  - ie., #epicfail #whyme #springisfinallyhere

  • Use: “Excited to experience my first hackathon! #EQXDHack16”
  • Use: “Setting goals & holding people accountable is a part of how we #eatthewhale on the path to equity.”
  • Use: “Proud to sponsor #EQXDM3!”

Hashtags are meant to track popular topics.

  • Often you hear the term trending which refers to topics that almost ‘explode’ in popularity.
  • You may see a ‘trends’ box on your home Twitter page. This tracks the most popular words at any given time.

Symposium Official Hashtag - #EQxDM3

AM Career Dynamics Break Out Sessions

  • Culture with Intent - #EQxDCulture
  • Being a Change Agent - #EQxDChange
  • Advocacy - #EQxDAdvocacy
  • Disrupting Implicit Bias - #EQxDDisruptBias

PM Career Pinch Points Break Out Sessions

  • Equity in Practice - #EQxDFirmStrategies
  • Transcending the Glass Ceiling - #EQxDTranscend
  • Hackathon - Mentorship Re-Designed - #EQxDMentorship
  • Graphing the Work-Life Equation - #EQxDWorkLife

Some other abbreviations you will see: 

  • RT = “retweet” This is when you tweet something already tweeted. Kind of like a citation to the original.
  • MT = “modified tweet” This is when you retweet and add a comment.
  • FF = “ Follow Friday” On Fridays, it is a common practice to give a ‘shout out’ to interesting people/organizations to follow on Twitter.
  • ICYMI = In case you missed it - Modifying the same tweet in a day w/ this prefix will allow the same tweet to take on a 2nd life. (Twitter will not allow you to post the same exact Tweet more than 1x on any given day.)

PRO-TIPS FOR LIVE-TWEETING AT THE SYMPOSIUM:

  • Use the hashtag for the session (ex: #EQxDCulture, #EQxDChange, etc)
  • Follow others using the session hashtag
  • Retweet others using the session hashtag: help boost them up!
  • Tweet great speaker quotes, photos and commentary
  • Tag speakers when they say something quotable
  • Tweeting during a conference can happen fast, but try to proofread your tweets before you hit ‘send.’

PRO-TIPS FOR BLOGGING POST-SYMPOSIUM:

  • Create a storify for the session using the hashtag  (storify will allow you to login using your twitter handle)
  • When creating your storify, search the hashtag and the other users you remember for your session
  • Make notes during or shortly after the session you plan to blog about so you don’t forget anything important or inspiration
  • The best blog posts have a personal touch. After reviewing your session notes, consider what struck you about the session - was anything particularly inspiring? Were you impressed by an innovative session format? What did you learn? Where there themes that resonated with the group?
  • Include photos in your post
  • If the session tied back to the research presented in the opening session, help make that link for the audience