Social Media & Me: #fail

So, since I pledged to take the plunge into technology exploration instead of just standing on the side and dipping my toes in the water, I decided to sign up for a Twitter account.  "Really, how hard could it be?" I thought to myself as I typed in my info to sign up.  It seems a lot like facebook when you first start.  My question is, how the heck to you find twitter chats to participate in???  I spent like 20 minutes fooling around on Twitter before I finally decided to Google it.  Then I probably spent 30 more minutes trying to get somewhere with the info I found on Google.  Verdict:  I give up.  I'm positive it can't be this difficult to find a chat to participate in - it looks so simple.  I want to analyze a twitter conversation about something that matters (part of the participatory culture right?), but I don't want to spend hours figuring out how to do it.  So......I will leave it at #fail for now and try again another day - and maybe after a lesson...