Twitter Engagement During #LDSconf

Tweeting during any live event naturally means more engagement than you may be used to on twitter. You might gain followers and one of your tweets might get seen by thousands more people than usual. Rather than try to favorite or retweet every tweet that I see, I try to focus on a select few. It is very unlikely that anyone could even read fast enough to see every single tweet with the #ldsconf hashtag because there are so many. Here are some of my strategies about how to engage with others on twitter during conference.


Following Accounts
Following people who are tweeting about #ldsconf and seeing their tweets come up on your home feed is the easiest way to see tweets during general conference. I follow thousands of accounts, so I use lists, but if you follow less than that then the home feed is a reliable source. Just remember that if you follow other accounts that aren't tweeting about conference, like sports teams for example, then those tweets will all appear in your home feed as well. You could unfollow them, but you can also mute them until conference is over.

I tend to not try to find people to follow during conference. I do this during the weeks leading up to conference and all throughout the year. There are some accounts that you might consider taking a few minutes to follow right now if you haven't already!

Here are some of the Church social networks #ElderTeixeira mentioned you should follow: http://t.co/ReQkM9RTFQ

— The LDS Church (@LDSchurch) April 5, 2015

Making Twitter Lists
Prior to conference I make a Twitter lists to make sure that I see tweets that I want to. I have a list for family, a list for friends, and a list for people whose tweets I've liked in previous years of conference. This way I can easily see the things they tweet without having to sort through my whole feed. You don't have to follow someone to put them on a list either. I've found that the easiest way for me to monitor all of this is to use a tool like Tweetdeck.

Retweeting, Favoriting & Mentioning
Retweet things that you want to share with your followers and favorite things that you want to appear in the Favorites section of your twitter profile. It's that simple.  I usually retweet(RT) the official church accounts during conference. As for mentioning, I try not to hold conversations during general conference because I don't want to interrupt others. I will sometimes favorite tweets that I want to discuss to come back to later. If people want to talk to me on twitter, I usually wait until after the session to respond. I wouldn't hold a conversation in the conference center, so why would I do so now?

Answering Questions
If you happen to see someone who asks a question about church doctrine or about #ldsconf, reach out to them and provide an answer. Consider referring people to mormon.org where they can chat with missionaries if they have a lot of questions. Remember that you don't have to do this during conference, this would be a time that I would favorite a tweet and come back to it. If you ever want help to reach out to someone and answer their question, feel free to tag me (oBenBrown) in the tweet.

Expressing Gratitude

Many people "shout out" to twitter accounts that have retweeted or favorited a lot of their tweets. Some accounts even give personalized shout outs to their new followers. After conference, consider reaching out to anyone who tweeted something that was meaningful to you and thank them for their efforts.

How do you engage with others during general conference and why? Use the gift of thumbs and leave a comment!

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