Several of the participants here at the Social Media Summit that Ragan Communications is presenting at SWIFT’s headquarters in Belgium have asked me why I engage in live-tweeting. It’s not that they think I shouldn’t; they’re curious about what motivates me. I get several benefits from live-tweeing events I attend:

• Imprinting important ideas—When I tweet a statistic, a fact, or an idea that I hear, it helps imprint that idea in my mind. What’s more, I can revisit my own tweets to recall what I thought was important. It’s a form of note-taking.
• Brand-building—Ragan is my primary strategic business partner. The company is trying to make inroads in Europe. Live-tweeting can’t hurt.
• New follolwers—Many of my Twitter followers retweet the information I’ve shared that they find interesting. Some of their followers like the information enough that they follow me.
• Share thought leadership—The speakers at these conferences may not be well known, but they have great ideas and share valuable information. I’m delighted to raise their profiles as much as I can.
• Conversation-starters—I wind up having some nice conversations—both on Twitter and in-person—with people who are here in-person at the conference and are following my tweets.
• Spread important ideas—It’s the most fundamental reason I live-tweet; I mean, why would anyone follow me if not because I share worthwhile information, whether it’s a link to a breaking news item, a fascinating blog post, or something I heard at a conference?

Live-tweeting isn’t always the best approach. When I’m at the annual SNCR Research Symposium, the research results are so rich that 140 characters won’t contain the ideas. In these cases, live-blogging is better. For that, I use Cover It Live. Twitter is great for passing along something a speaker said. Live-blogging is better for digging into meaty subject matter.

Some organizations resist live-tweeting and live-blogging, fearing that potential attendees pass on paying the registration fee in favor of following the online updates. The truth is, people who might never otherwise have heard of your conference will now be aware of it and, having had a taste (and only a taste) of the content will be inclined to attend next year.

Why do you live-tweet events?