Twitter Quiz game reflection

Yesterday I finally got around to try out my idea of running a Twitter based quiz game. Unfortunately there weren't that many followers who were interested in participating but I decided to go ahead anyway. Simply because I really wanted to try it out and see how it would work. The setup was:

1. I invited anyone to participate via Twitter.
2. Two persons were interested (@CraigTaylor74 and @kstenqvist).
3. I posted five questions using the hashtag #mattiasquiz.
4. The questions were posted one by one with an hour in between.
5. The responses were sent to me via Direct Message simply because other participants shouldn't be able to see the answers and when the answers came in.
6. The one who first sent in the first correct answer for each question scored one point.
7. The winner was the one who first got three points.

And the proud winner was:


@CraigTaylor74.

So what did I learn from this experiment?
First of all I learned that running a quiz game using Twitter is actually doable. It's easy to setup, it is easy for people to join, it's fast and simple.

Let participants know when to start
In general there was nothing really wrong with the setup used but some things could have been done differently.
I should have set an exact time frame for the quiz so people knew when it was going to take place. This way I think more people could have been up to the idea since they would have known if it was possible for them to participate or not. So by simply stating a time and date when the first question will appear will make it easier for people to join in.

Different time zones

Another tricky part with the time issue is of course the different time zones. If you have participants from all over the world you would have to distribute the questions over quite some time so everyone has an equal opportunity to answer the questions. It is of course possible to have two quizzes running at different times (like the setup with early and late #lrnchat, where the early session suits us Europeans and the late suits the North American participants).

Setting a theme
Then it would probably been good to have some kind of theme for the quiz, again to make it easier for people to join in. If I would have said that it would be a Star Wars quiz, at least all the Star Wars nerds would probably have been interested. Now no one knew what type of questions would come and therefore it was less interesting.

Practical use in a Learning situation
But now you might wonder why I decided to run this little experiment. Well, apart from my fascination for quiz games I wanted to understand if this type of game could be used in a learning situation. And I think I can answer yes to that question. If you are a trainer you could use a quiz to create interest for your training. Let the participants in the training take part in a quiz prior to the actual training and then reveal the winner when you are all gathered for the training. It will be a fun and engaging way to start the training without it taking any time from the actual training.

You could also run it as a test after the training to make the Learners reflect on what they have learned in a different way. Or why not try and run it during the actual training as an ice breaker exercise. Post a question right before a break and let the Learners find the answer during the break. I am sure that this, with the right questions, will trigger some pretty interesting discussions.

Conclusion
Finally my conclusion is that Twitter quizzes can be used in a number of way, they are fast and easy to setup, and they can create a fun and engaging environment. I would definitely like to try it again with more participants, so if you find this interesting and want to try, give me a sign and I will setup a new quiz round.

Thanks for taking the time,
/Mattias