What do you call an interview on Twitter? A Tw-interview? A Twitter-view?

Regardless of what you call it, I'm going to be involved in a "live chat" on Twitter this coming Thursday, 10NOV2011, 1:30–2:00pm ET. The hashtag is #saspress.

Shelly Goodin (@SASPublishing) and SAS Press author recruiter Shelley Sessoms (@SSessoms) will start by asking me (@RickWicklin) questions about my book, Statistical Programming with SAS/IML Software. During our conversation, you can jump in anytime and make a comment or ask a question. That's right, you (yes, YOU!) will have a chance to pepper me with questions. Ask about my book. Ask about my blog. Ask about programming in SAS. Ask me about publishing with SAS Press. But ask something interesting. Otherwise, it will be a long 30 minutes.

And to anticipate your objections before you can utter them, here is my list of the Top Five Reasons People Give for NOT Attending the Live Chat:

5. I don't have a Twitter account.

Sign up on Twitter. After you have an account, type @RickWicklin into the search field and click Search. My profile will appear. Click Follow.

4. I don't know what a hash tag is or how to "follow" one.

A hashtag is just a string (like #SAS, #saspress, or #statistics) that begins with the hash (or pound) sign. You can read more about Twitter hashtags. The nice thing about a hashtag is that you can search for all tweets that include it: Type the hashtag into the search field on Twitter and—voila!—all recent tweets that use the hashtag appear. During the Live Chat, search for #saspress every few minutes to follow the conversation. (Or use software such as TweetDeck to automatically track hashtags.)

3. I don't have the time.

Then sign on, ask your question, and leave. This is your chance to ask me technical questions like, "What is the chance that a random matrix is singular?"

2. I don't want to be bored.

Same here. I don't plan to spend a lot of time discussing where I grew up or whether I wear boxers or briefs. I prefer to answer questions about SAS, programming, blogging, statistics, matrix linear algebra, and so forth. If things get boring, I'll break out my arsenal of math and stat jokes. DON'T MAKE ME DO THAT!

1. I don't have any questions to ask you.

Review some of my recent blog posts for ideas.

• Do you understand how to use random number streams in SAS? If not, ask!
• Do you know why it is a bad idea to use Google to estimate the popularity of people and subjects? If not, ask!
• Have you mastered the UNIQUE-LOC technique? If not, ask for clarification!

Remember, you have to ask questions, or I'll resort to corny math jokes like "Why did the mathematician cross the Mobius strip?" (To get to the other...oh, never mind.)