That’s the question many second screen-ers hoping for their 5 seconds of fame ask.
The company Spredfast shows how it is managed on the technical side.
How We Get Filtered & Moderated Tweets on TV. Oct. 7, 2011 by Sam Decker
But the rest of the selection rules are not clear. Here are some observations from an informal case study of an episode of Discovery Network’s Deadliest Catch in relation to this chart on how your Tweet may be selected as one of few to grace a live broadcast.
1. Use the hashtag – And only that hashtag. Tweets without it are missed, but producers aren’t trying to promote your agenda so resist adding every hashtag you can think of to boost your ‘tweet-reach’.
2. Don’t use foul language – User-generated comments are fraught with cuss words or symbolize swearing with T-word euphemisms (e.g. sh*t), grawlix or profanitype (e.g. $#!+). Although, some cable networks are more liberal about what they broadcast.
3. Resist the urge to go Emo-happy – smiley faces seems to work ok, but most other emoticons or emoji’s don’t seem to translate well through the filtering stream.
4. Same something positive – Although the Twitter-sphere is for expressing your opinion or pointing out the idiocy of a character’s behavior, don’t expect it to make the screen.
5. Don’t state the obvious – everyone else is watching too.
6. Threats or suggestions to improve the show – probably not the warm and fuzzy the show is looking for, especially if you are going to yell it.
7. Say SOMETHING –
8. Sarcasm – although it can be hilarious, it’s not always appreciated by everyone.
Now, you might think things like punctuation, grammar and proper English might matter, but they don’t seem to. And there is some suspicion that having a decent profile picture will help, but most on-screen Tweets are devoid of that image once they hit the screen.
The selection process of Tweets that reach the screen may not seem important to most viewers. But when that process contributes to the perception that other viewers are feeling one way about the show, where the backchannel conversations may express a different view. The producers have the ability to frame the viewer’s opinion of what the public opinion may be – an important piece of context when the viewer is watching content ripe with political or social issues.
Jackie Cameron 