How to Participate in the 2018 Multicultural Children’s Book Day Twitter Party #ReadYourWorld

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As Project Manager for Multicultural Children’s Book Day, one of the big things I am working on this week is spreading the word on the MCBD Twitter Party on 1/27/18 (9:00-10:00p.m. ET). This will be our 5th Twitter Party and I can assure you that these parties are INSANELY fun and very fast-paced!

 

For me, attending a Twitter Party is like hanging out with a ton of cool people I like without having to clean my house. Or cook. Or buy wine. OK, there may be a little wine involved 😉

What I have noticed during these planning stages is that were many Twitter Party newbies asking how to Participate in a Twitter Party so I decided to shed some light on the subject so that no one will feel too intimidated to join us.

First, what IS a Twitter Party?

A Twitter Party is a live chat using Twitter and the Hashtag(#) to connect to participants, thus connecting to the conversation stream.

As a participant, you should follow the appropriate hashtag (for MCBD, it’s #ReadYourWorld) and engage with other party-goers, discover new and interesting factoids and even a little more about the brand or organization the party is supporting (in this case; MCBD).

For those unfamiliar with Twitter, I found something very interesting called TweetChat. TC is free to use and seemingly isolates the conversation occurring to just the hashtag you plug in where it says “Hashtag to follow.” Once you do that (and sign in with your Twitter account) you’ll be able to read everything everyone is saying at the party. This online tool automatically groups all the tweets that have that hashtag in it so it is easier to follow.

Another platform to use during the party that is similar to Tweetchat is TweetDeck. Same idea, different site.

OK, back the “whys” and the “hows” of Twitter Parties.

A Twitter Party generally has one or more hosts who facilitate the party once it starts. Co-founders Valarie Budayr and Mia Wenjen have always been heavily involved in encouraging conversations and answering questions during the party.

The host(s) of the Twitter Party will inform participants what the Hashtag(#) will be ahead of time, along with what the prizes will be, in a blog post announcing the party. Like I mentioned before, the hashtag to watch for and follow is #readyourworld.

Most often Twitter Parties have sponsors who provide prizes to randomly selected participants. This year MCBD2018’s Twitter Party is Sponsored by Scholastic Book Clubs and many, many multicultural book authors and Sponsors have donated diverse books for kids to give away during this event; twelve “bundles” of 5 diverse books to be exact!

BUT…to win, you need to register ahead of time! Go HERE to register (it’s free!) for the 1/27/18 Twitter Party.

The Twitter Party begins at 9:00p.m ET or 8:00p.m. Central) and the party will be kicked off with some predetermined questions that are designed to get participants talking about important diversity and literacy topics.

As the party progresses, a MCBD team member will be watching and randomly choosing winners of the book bundles; one winner every 6 minutes!

Those winners are announced during the course of the party (via Twitter Handle) and are asked to DM (direct message) MCBD on Twitter to share their address so we can ship their goodies. REMEMBER, the more you participate, the more likely you are to win something!

Why is it a great opportunity? A big plus for both brands, authors, publishers AND participants and it also gives them a whole new pool of like-minded peeps to follow! In our case, if you are a multicultural children’s book author or publishing house, it can be a very fun way to connect and get in front of your end-user (the buyers of your books).

For participants, I promise you’ll have fun, learn new things and meet new friends and you might even win a great prize!

By the way, anyone can join any Twitter Party… they are completely free and open to the public as long as you have a Twitter account (which is free to set up).

How do you “talk” during a Twitter Party? This is where your “reply” arrow will come in handy. If you see a question or comment you would like to respond to, click the arrow that points left (green arrow in the screenshot below). If you want to retweet a link or a resource that someone shared, use the Retweet arrows (the blue arrow in the screenshot).

Answering Questions.

Let’s say Question #1 (Q1) was something about a study Scholastic has done on hot trends for books in 2018 and you’d like to answer or share a title you think would be of interest. Your answer would begin with “A1” so participants and hosts would know you are referring to question #1.

The most important thing to remember is HAVE FUN. There are no right or wrong answers as long we are talking about reading and diverse books for kids.

See you at the party!

 

Looking for Kindness Classroom books and activities for your students?

Multicultural Children’s Book Day’s Downloadable Kindness Classroom Kit for Educators, Caregivers and Homeschoolers is OUR gift to YOU.

Our FREE Classroom Kindness Kit from Multicultural Children’s Book Day includes:

– Diversity Kindness books for ages 4-12

– Classroom Kindness activities, both quick and project based

– Be A Hero Be Kind poster by Jarrett J. Krosoczka

– Multicultural Children’s Book Day poster by DEMI

Go here to download and Be Kind, Be a Hero today!