Next Practices

What is #ESNchat?

#ESNchat is a weekly Twitter chat founded by Jeff Ross in September 2013 for those interested in Enterprise Social Networks (internal social networks for employees of businesses).  The topics covered are primarily of interest to ESN community managers, but anyone with an interest in ESNs is welcome to participate. Jeff hosted #ESNchat through October 2, 2014 at which time he handed over responsibility for the chat to The Community Roundtable (@TheCR). From October 2015 through May 2017, Jeff resumed the role of host and recruited a great team of ESN enthusiasts and practitioners to lead the chat with him – Brenda Smith, Jennifer Honig and Chris Catania. Beginning July 2017, Jeff stepped away as did Chris, and the four current co-hosts are Brenda Smith, Jennifer Honig, Rita Zonias and Noah Sparks. Please check with them regarding the topic schedule and archives since the transition in leadership.

When is it held?

The chat is held each Thursday from 2-3pm Eastern Time (except major American holidays).  While the scheduled chats are weekly for one hour, the conversation never ends!  Therefore, we encourage you to tag relevant tweets throughout the week with #ESNchat to share with the network.

What kinds of topics are covered?

Each week focuses on a different topic and normally includes 5-6 questions spread throughout the hour. Follow @ESNchat and the co-hosts for notifications. They welcome your suggestions for future topics.

How do I participate?

I recommend either of the following methods:

1. Join the #ESNchat on tchat.io and take advantage of the user-friendly interface there.  Benefits of this approach include:
   • being able to control the speed of the tweets;
   • having the hashtag #ESNchat automatically entered for you in your tweets (easy to forget otherwise);
   • hide retweets automatically to reduce the noise.
2. Use the Twitter tool of your choice (such as Tweetdeck.com, Hootsuite.com, Nestivity.com or Twitter itself) to view a stream of tweets in real time that contain the hashtag #ESNchat.

Follow @ESNchat on Twitter for updates regarding the chats and for discussion questions during the chats.  Questions will be posted at regular intervals by the moderator during the scheduled chat.  Answer questions, engage in conversation, retweet, learn, and have fun!  This is a conversation by and for those involved with enterprise social networks, so learn from others, follow them on Twitter, develop relationships, and share your knowledge with others who are also eager to learn.  You will find a friendly, helpful community of professionals here!

Are the chats archived?

Archives from 2013 through the time Jeff was host or co-host can be found on the Topic Archives page. Check with current chat leaders for more recent archives.