Minnesota Independent » tweets http://minnesotaindependent.com News. Politics. Media. Wed, 16 Nov 2011 21:22:23 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.1 Twitter’s utility for protests, now evident in Iran, debuted in St. Paul during RNC http://minnesotaindependent.com/37426/twitter-iran-rnc-st-paul-revolution http://minnesotaindependent.com/37426/twitter-iran-rnc-st-paul-revolution#comments Mon, 22 Jun 2009 15:23:38 +0000 Chris Steller http://minnesotaindependent.com/?p=37426 Iran has proven the headline prescient, even if the terminology needed tweaking: “The revolution will be Twittered.” That was the title of Tom Elko’s Sept. 9, 2008, Minnesota Independent post…]]> Iran has proven the headline prescient, even if the terminology needed tweaking: “The revolution will be Twittered.” That was the title of Tom Elko’s Sept. 9, 2008, Minnesota Independent post about how Twitter messages (technically, “tweets” that were “tweeted”) came in handy during protests outside the Republican National Convention in St. Paul.

Elko noted a then-staggering number of RNC-related tweets: 17,000. Last week, one estimate pegged the number of tweets related to Iran’s election and the subsequent protests at nearly a billion.

A MnIndy sampling of RNC tweets showed that St. Paul’s protests had some of the same confusion and enthusiasm, if not the gravitas, seen in recent demostrations in Tehran:

Police: “You must go to the left.” Protester: “Your left or ours?” 6:31 PM Sep 4th from web

Overheard at May Day cafe: “Dude, I totally got tear gassed. It was fucking awesome.” 11:57 AM Sep 3rd from web

Overheard from excited Mpls policeman, “So I shot him with impact round a[nd] he just fucking dropped!” 6:51 PM Sep 1st from web

Here’s one area in which St. Paul exceeds Tehran, for now. The roster of arrested journalists in Iran is as yet not quite half as long as those arrested during the RNC — though with much more serious implications for the people detained.

]]> http://minnesotaindependent.com/37426/twitter-iran-rnc-st-paul-revolution/feed 1 MnIndy’s Best: Top RNC tweets http://minnesotaindependent.com/20771/mnindys-best-top-rnc-tweets http://minnesotaindependent.com/20771/mnindys-best-top-rnc-tweets#comments Fri, 26 Dec 2008 14:30:12 +0000 Paul Schmelzer http://minnesotaindependent.com/?p=20771 sent by our reporters during the Republican National Convention, we found that, despite the 140-character restraint and the inevitable typos that result from punching in text on a cellphone while ducking teargas canisters, an RNC-only best-of list was a fitting way to capture the humor, excitement and surreal nature of last summer's event. ]]>
Tweets — the 140-character mini-blog posts sent via Twitter — are very much of-the-moment and therefore often have a fairly short shelf-life. But in reviewing these brief dispatches sent by our reporters during the Republican National Convention, we found that, despite the 140-character constraint and the inevitable typos that result from punching in text on a cellphone while ducking teargas canisters, an RNC-only best-of list was a fitting way to capture the humor, excitement and surreal nature of last summer’s event. Here’s the top ten:

Rybak and Coleman call RNC a “success,” adding, “nearly 100 lbs of Jelly Bellies were distributed to the media during the Convention.” –molly 5:21 PM Sep 5th from web

Overheard by an onlooker [at a showdown between protesters and police]: “I’ve been a St. Paul guy forever. This is TIME Magazine shit!” 7:36 PM Sep 4th from web

Police: “You must go to the left.” Protester: “Your left or ours?” 6:31 PM Sep 4th from web

i’m so hot for the teacher…. i should learn not to leave my twitter open 4 drunk bloggers to spoof tweets… 11:41 PM Sep 3rd from web  [A ghost-tweet by a passerby who noticed an open MnIndy laptop at the Liberal Lounge.]

Overheard post-Poor Peoples March. Placid Jesusy-looking guy to riot cops: “We love you. Thank you for the pepperspray. It was delicious.” 12:14 PM Sep 3rd from web

Overheard at May Day cafe: “Dude, I totally got tear gassed. It was fucking awesome.” 11:57 AM Sep 3rd from web

Guntzel: Watching protesters & police make their moves was “like watching a newborn’s eyes as its brain works out the w orld in front of it.” 10:39 AM Sep 3rd from web

Overheard from excited Mpls policeman, “So I shot him with impact round a[nd] he just fucking dropped!” 6:51 PM Sep 1st from web

Conventioneer: “if obama gets elected, it will be a jewish state. I will go to cuba. We have no place to go.” 2:23 PM Sep 1st from txt

McCain meatballs for sale on 7th St. Sound appetizing. And stale. –Molly 11:07 AM Sep 1st from txt

Follow us on Twitter at MnIndyLIVE.

More of MnIndy’s Best:

Ten most popular stories of 2008

Top 10 photos of 2008

Top videos of 2008

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