Cvent

If I haven't convinced you to take advantage of Twitter for your conferences—whether by using event hashtags, a Twitter roll, or another technique—then perhaps a new study by a group of scholars from Germany, Austria and the United Kingdom will. Their case study "How People are using Twitter during Conferences" found that the majority of conference attendees (95.1 percent) already had a Twitter account and that the majority of those who did (67.5 percent) actively used it to tweet during a conference.

Nearly three-quarters of the attendees send between 11 to 20 messages per day. About 51 percent discussed topics with other Twitter users by sending direct messages or @ replies.

Conference attendees are using Twitter in several ways, with "sharing resources" and "communicate with others" being among the top reasons cited. Interestingly, in response questions about what the value of tweeting at conferences was, respondents said, "Twitter helps you reach out to others with similar interests, provides networking potential, and allows people who could not attend to gain some value from your experience."



The study only collected responses from 41 attendees, so overall, it certainly cannot be considered a conclusive analysis of Twitter and conferences. But still, it's interesting to see that many of the attendee benefits that Twitter proponents (such as myself) have been preaching are actually shared by the attendees themselves.

If you need some help getting your conference up and running on Twitter, make sure to check out my 5 Tips for Event Promotion on Twitter.