1. Live-tweeting
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Prepared April 2015 by CHINFO OI-2 Digital Media Engagement

2. AGENDA
• Live-tweet defined
• Research
• Promote
• Start coverage
• Live-tweet
• Use multimedia
• Go beyond the speaker
• Be social
• Conclude
• Contact information
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3. WHAT IS A LIVE-TWEET?
Live-tweeting is
sending a series of
Tweets for a certain
period of time about
an unfolding subject
— anything from
breaking news to an
event. In this
tutorial, we’ll look at
how the Navy live-
tweeted the Sea, Air,
Space expo.
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4. 1) RESEARCH
Once you’ve decided to live-
tweet an event, do your research:
• Determine which portion of
the event you’ll cover
• Gather information about the
speaker(s) including their
Twitter user name (if they
have one), their organization’s
user name and/or hashtag,
and their biography
• Find content that you’ve
already created such as fact
files, blogs, news articles, etc.
• Draft tweets for this content
and shorten links
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5. 2) PROMOTE
A few days before your live event, announce your plan to live-tweet using
the appropriate hashtag. For Sea, Air, Space, we used the existing hashtag
(#SAS15) to join the larger conversation about the event.
Since we live-tweeted multiple sessions over a three-day period, we
created a Navy Live blog (http://1.usa.gov/1GCneTU) with the coverage
schedule.
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6. 3) START COVERAGE
Live-tweeting is a lot like producing a television newscast. You should
have your opening tweet, live-tweet and closing tweet. Your opening tweet
interrupts your regular tweets and welcomes your followers to the event.
If you’re covering multiple sessions, announce which session is next and
your organization’s speaker. Use their biography as a link to provide
background information about the speaker.
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7. 4) LIVE-TWEET
Remember these tips:
– Say who is speaking or what is happening
– Pick a style and be consistent
– Be clear when you are either quoting a speaker or paraphrasing
them
– Keep your tweet to appropriately 100-120 characters
– Use the event hashtag and your organization’s own relevant
hashtag(s)
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8. 5) USE MULTIMEDIA
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Social media is a visual
medium. Your audience
wants to experience
what is happening. Tweet
more than just quotes or
paraphrased statements.
If you have the ability,
take a photo using your
smart phone and tweet it
using the event hashtag.
Take your audience
behind the scenes.

9. 6) GO BEYOND THE SPEAKER
Use your previously researched materials. In this case, Chief of Naval
Operations Adm. Jonathan Greenert was discussing 3d printing. We selected
relevant hashtag(s) (#3dPrinting and #NavyInnovates), stated when the blog
was originally published (July 2014), linked to it and tweeted it.
This provided our followers both additional context and content.
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10. 7) BE SOCIAL
Include other users in your coverage. You selected an event hashtag
(#SAS15) to easily group conversations about the event.
Retweet relevant content if it is available. In this example, a public affairs
officer was live-tweeting using the event hashtag. Before engaging, determine
if the content is relevant and factual.
Remember to participate in the conversation. Retweeting or favoriting a
tweet is a quick way to show you are engaged; it also encourages audience
participation in the live-tweet.
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11. 8) END YOUR COVERAGE
Like a breaking news report on television, end your coverage by returning
to “regularly scheduled” programming. This important tweet clearly ends
your event for your followers. If you will be tweeting additional sessions of
the same event, announce when you are returning to it, and repeat these
live-tweeting steps starting with step 3.
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12. CONTACT
U.S. Navy Digital Media Engagement
703-614-9154
SocialMedia@Navy.mil
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