Today’s post is written by Marcy Twete, Founder and CEO of Career Girl Network. She is going to give you the details about our brand new #CareerGirlChat on Twitter.  Thanks Marcy!

It’s week THREE of the #CareerGirlChat. We are bonding together with three other “Career Girl” driven organizations to bring women all over the world together on Twitter for one hour a week!

What is #CareerGirlChat?

The meeting of the minds of the websites Career Girl Network, The Modern Career Girl, Ms. Career Girl, and Classy Career Girl. We believe Career Girl’s don’t compete, they work together, and we’re doing just that by creating this chat every Tuesday at 8pm EST.

What is a Twitter chat?

A Twitter chat is usually spearheaded by a business or organization, and allows its Twitter followers and others to participate in a conversation that is generally led by a staff member or leader in the organization.

Twitter Basics for Joining a Chat

• Finding the chat. To find a Twitter chat, you’ll likely see the organizing business or organization public a hashtag (#) to accompany the chat. To find the stream for that specific hashtag, simply type that term into Twitter’s search bar. This will bring up a search of all the Tweets worldwide with that hashtag.
• Tweeting in the chat. Tweeting to answer a question in a chat is easy. Simply follow the instructions of the organization running the chat, and be sure to include the designated hashtag in every Tweet you send.
• Refresh! Some Twitter chats can have hundreds of participants and thousands of Tweets, so you want to be sure to refresh your Twitter frequently. You can do this by clicking on the red heading at the top of your search that will say “XX New Tweets.” You might refresh this ever 30 seconds if you really want to follow all of the action.

We also recommend using TweetChat.com to make the whole thing simple and easy, rather than sitting on Twitter hoping you get it all!

How do I participate in a Twitter chat?

There are a number of ways you can participate in Twitter chats:

• Listening. Participating in a Twitter chat doesn’t mean you have to actually chat. You can learn an incredible amount by listening to other Tweeters answers and questions.
• Following. Twitter chats are a great way to find other awesome Tweeters to follow. While you’re listening or participating, you can also be clicking on the profiles of interesting people and following them. This might get you a lot more followers as well.
• Tweeting. The point of a Twitter chat is just that – to chat! So of course, you’ll want to participate. Many Twitter chats use the format of Questions and Answers to engage their audience. The organizer, for instance, might Tweet something like “Q1: Tell us about a time you felt powerful at work. #womenpowerchat” To participate as a chatter, you’d respond with something like “A1: When I was promoted to my current job and given a raise. #womenpowerchat” Notice you’ll include the hashtag, but also Q1 or A1 to indicate your questions or answers.
• Promote yourself! Don’t be afraid to promote yourself during a Twitter chat. Recently, I participated in a women entrepreneur’s chat, and when marketing topics came up, I of course talked about writing a book and included a link to learn more. That’s completely OK!

So go ahead, jump online tonight at 8pm EST/7pm CST, and we’ll chat it up about everything from job searching to entrepreneurship!  See you there!