What is Twitter Book Club?

If you're reading this, that does not mean you have any idea what Twitter Book Club is, let alone Twitter. You may have come to this post via Google, during your regular (I can dream) reading of The Book Studio, or even because someone sent you a link. So today I've decided to write two posts: First, a post explaining what Twitter Book Club is and second, a post explaining why our August 10th Twitter Book Club is an event you'll want to put on your calendar.

Ready? OK, maybe you still aren't. But here we go, anyway...

Twitter (http://www.twitter.com) is a social-media website that allows people to post short "status updates" to their followers. The updates are limited to 140 characters (NOT words; characters), and can include links to other web pages, links to photos, and even music files. In other words, Twitter is not simply a place where people talk about what kind of sandwich might be good for lunch today.

Twitter is what YOU, the user, make it. You do not have to follow anyone you don't wish to follow, and you cannot force anyone to follow you (asking for followers is a big Twitter no-no; if you have interesting things to say, people will follow you on their own). If someone's tweets offend you for any reason whatsoever, you can block that person. On Twitter, nothing's personal. It's supposed to be a convivial place for connection, information sharing, and networking.

You do need to join Twitter in order to participate in Twitter Book Club, but that's ALL you need to do. In fact, you can just watch Twitter Book Club once you've got a Twitter account, and you don't have to participate at all! Let me walk you through the steps:

1. From any Internet browers, go to http://www.twitter.com.

2. Join Twitter -- It's free, and it's easy, and you can remain totally anonymous if you like. I use a real photograph and also link my real name to my Twitter account, but you don't have to. You can be "BookClubFanatic" and have a picture of an ampersand next to your name. Twitter doesn't care.

3. You can follow anyone you like, but since we're here to talk about Twitter Book Club, your first follow should be "@TheBookMaven." That's me! Please also follow @Booksquare, my co-host, Kassia Krozser. You do this simply by going to the page that says "Find People" and typing in "thebookmaven." Beneath my photo, you'll see a button that says "Follow." Click it. Now you're following me!

4. Now, let's skip over all of the other things you can do on Twitter and focus on the Twitter Book Club. Twitter Book Club takes place just once a month -- It's always on a Monday and it's always at 9 p.m. EST (we think that makes it easier for people on the West Coast to participate, too). We try to hold Twitter Book Club on the second or third Monday in a month just to keep things stable. So on AUGUST 10, 2009 at 9:00 p.m. EST, here's what you do:

-- Log on to Twitter, or just go straight to www.tweetchat.com. If you log in to Twitter, you'll want to follow the hashtag "#tbc." If you go to Tweetchat, it will ask you which "room" you'd like to enter; type in "tbc" and you'll be all set.

-- Using Tweetchat (or another hashtag aggregator; a "hashtag" is simply a term with a numeral or pound sign in front of it that allows the Internet to "search" Twitter for certain words), follow along! Here's what you'll usually see: @thebookmaven or @booksquare will welcome everyone, and participants start throwing out greetings, comments, and questions.

-- When one of the moderators has a specific question, we'll put "Q1" (for "Question One"), "Q2," and so forth in front of our comments (also known as "tweets") so that everyone sees them. If you answer one of those questions, including the "Q1" will help other club members follow, too.

5. That's about it, really -- we "tweet" for about an hour. In the day or two following the Twitter Book Club gathering, participants are welcome to throw out suggestions for the next month's book selection, either by tweet or via good old-fashioned email (thebookmaven at gmail dot com). We take a selection of those and set up a poll, allowing people to vote.

Stay tuned for Twitter Book Club -- August 10, 2009 Edition!