Is Twitter really a viable platform for association members to have discussions amongst themselves? Put another way, are Twitter chats (occurring at a designated day and time each week) viable for associations themselves? To be honest, I’m not sure they’re worth it — at least not yet.

Hear me out. I was following the Oct. 6 #assnchat and the topic was how a Twitter chat might drive association engagement.

For one thing, Twitter chats tend to get super slow when more than 20 people participate. For another, it can be extremely difficult to get people to commit an extra hour each week to focus on a still-buggy technology, especially when many of them are already staring at their computers for at least 40 hours a week.

Forgive me, but aren’t there other chat platforms that will work just as well as Twitter, if not better? Examples include Meebo, Yammer and Real Chat.

I understand why Twitter is so enticing. There are millions of users and Twitter chats are often great places to find new followers.

One idea from @bethbrodovsky was for associations to ask a specific question on Twitter and post the responses in a window on your Web site. Perhaps you don’t have to start with a chat — simply designate a hashtag for your association and use it throughout the week rather than at a specific time. Whenever members tweet something pertaining to the association, they can just attach the hashtag.

As someone in the Oct. 6 #assnchat rightly pointed out, a Twitter chat should be a habit — people have to remember to regularly attend. That comment made me think of the bygone days of “appointment viewing” for television. On-Demand, TiVo and DVR killed appointment viewing. For instance, people used to make it a point to be home on Thursday nights for “Seinfeld.” But if you can easily tape it, why bother?

I know a chat isn’t the same thing as television for obvious reason — a chat is interactive and engaging while TV is one-way communication.

And I do think there are ways an association could utilize a Twitter chat to make it useful. For example, smaller chapters or special interest groups could host chats that could also draw non-members’ attention to the organization.

At this point, I’m just not sure Twitter chats are a viable alternative to face-to-face meetings, which association staffers can easily hold. I think chats such as #assnchat succeed because, in addition to a motivated moderator, it’s comprised of the leaders and staffers from different associations coming together to discuss broader ideas.

To create a viable chat through Twitter for your association, it’s crucial to educate your members on why Twitter itself is beneficial. I’m not sure anyone will create a Twitter account for the sole purpose of participating in a chat, especially when there are other chat options available.

I like the idea of streaming members’ tweets (with a hashtag) on an association’s Web site. It shows visitors to the site that members are active, engaged and know how to use new technologies. But I think some associations might be getting ahead of themselves with the possibility of utilizing Twitter for chats right away. If you do have members on Twitter, encourage them to add the URL to their e-mail signatures, or even business cards. It’s really not as lame or techy as it seems!

Put together a comprehensive list of people for your members to follow, as @dhelwig suggested. This can help your members see immediate value, as well as encourage them to participate in conversations that are already taking place.

Focus on getting your members on Twitter first, then you can take advantage of everything that’s made it one of the fastest-growing social networks in the world.