Twitter's UI is not just annoying, but it makes it difficult for users to onboard. Most new users are at conferences, watch TV shows, etc... and want to follow

Twitter's UI is not just annoying, but it makes it difficult for users to onboard. Most new users are at conferences, watch TV shows, etc... and want to follow a hashtag and see it live. Now... what is a good way for a new user to do this without overload? I haven't found a good way to explain this without using Tweetdeck and even then it often feels like a terminal command gone loose.