This is a re-post of an article I wrote about #sbbuzz, a Tweet Chat for small business people.

What’s a tweet chat? A group of people (Twitterers) decide to “meet” at a set time and use a hashtag (such as #sbbuzz) to connect. And chat.

What is #sbbuzz all about? First of all, that # sign in the front means it is a hashtag. You will see hashtags all over Twitter. Hashtags are a sign that this may be a topic of interest to others in the general Twittersphere. Anyone can create a hashtag. #sbbuzz stands for Small Business Buzz (and that link will take you to the sbbuzz blog). You can also follow sbbuzz on Twitter. #sbbuzz chats are held every Tuesday night, 8pm–10pm Eastern Time.

How did I find out about the Tweet Chat? Much thanks to NJinsuranceGirl for tweeting about #sbbuzz. I found NJinsuranceGirl (Kacy Campion Renna) because jerseybites recommended her on Friday for #followfriday (what’s #followfriday? That’s a whole ‘nother topic: go on Twitter on any Friday and you’ll see lots of these #followfriday tags that are suggesting people to follow on Twitter). I met jerseybites in person last February when I attended a TweetUp. Here are some instructions on how to get involved with the group: http://sbbuzz.biz/instructions.

This was the chat from May 19, 2009:

What was discussed at the #sbbuzz chat? The topic this week was Insiders Tips for Small Businesses on Twitter. sbbuzz tweeted these questions during the course of the two hour chat:

• Q1. What advice would you give a small business owner brand new to Twitter?
• Q2. What should businesses talk about? What are businesses doing on Twitter?
• Q3. Any good resources for Twitter how-tos, reference guides, etiquettes, etc?
• Q4. Is your local community (govt/academic/private) doing anything to promote entrepreneurship/small business? What is working?
• Q5. How do you find time to stay involved, engaged and contributing to online and offline networks?
• Q6. How many social media networks do you actively participate in? Do connections overlap? How do you keep track?

There was more, but you get the basic idea. I felt since I was new to the “party,” I mostly read what others had to say (and I picked a few to follow regularly), but I did tweet this in response to Q6: “Q6 Social Media networks: Twitter, my own blog, Facebook – I’m on LinkedIn, too; much overlap because of my own blog. #sbbuzz”

Want to know what people had to say? A summary is posted at http://sbbuzz.wordpress.com/2009/05/21/small-biz-tech-advice-resources-may-19-2009/.

Have you ever participated in a Tweet Chat? Used a hashtag in Twitter to follow a topic with others? How would you answer any of the above questions? What questions would you ask?

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