Mehserle/Grant trial Tweet-Chat

Guide to the Daily Mehserle/Grant Trial Tweet-Chat
Posted by Noah Nelson on June 9, 2010 at 03:20pm

We will be hosting a tweet-chat with reporters and observers of the Johannes Mehserle trial at 12:30 PM PDT every day that court is in session. To participate in the chat, refer to the F.A.Q. below.

For those who are familiar with Tweet-Chats, we will be using the hashtag #OGTrial (see below). Questions should be addressed to @youthradio, which can also be used to
F.A.Q.

What is a Tweet-Chat?
A Tweet-Chat is a real time discussion on Twitter organized around a subject as opposed to being organized around a specific twitter account. The chat participates tag their tweets with the hashtag chosen for the chat. In this case the hashtag is #OGTrial.

What is a hashtag?
Pleae read this F.A.Q. about hashtags.

How do I follow the chat?
Use your favorite twitter client, or Twitter.com's search function. Search for the hashtag (#OGTrial) and you will follow the discussion in real time.

I want to participate, but don't want all my followers to see. What should I do?
A Tweet-Chat can involve a lot of tweets. If you don't want to fill up your followers' feeds with YOUR tweets from the chat you can phrase your tweets as a response to the host. In this case the host is @youthradio. Remember that the "@youthradio" needs to go at the start of the tweet-- that way only those of your followers who are following @youthradio will see the tweet.

What if I WANT my followers to see?
Just make sure to use the chat hashtag, that way folks in the chat can see. Retweet the posts you like to your followers and invite them to participate.

How do I get a question in?
Just ask and make sure it's tagged. A Tweet-Chat is a lot less structured than some online chats.

If volume gets too high the on-the-ground reporters may stop following the hashtag and leave it for the host to filter questions. This is another reason to start your tweets with the host's name.

Why #OGTrial?
This tag was chosen purely for efficacy's sake. It is short (a tweet that contains both @youthradio and #OGTrial leaves 120 characters for communication) and less prone to misspellings than other options. #OscarGrant already has a large number of people using it, and the decision was made to not hijack that hashtag. #BARTtrial was deemed too easy to typo (#BARTrial, for instance). #TrialChat, while empty, is too vague. #MehserleTrial is already in use.