Chat No.5

March 9, 2010 was our 5th chat and although I was not able to physically present myself a very kind last minute volunteer, @ChildAnxiety (aka Marianne Russo moderator of @TheCoffeeKlatch) facilitated the chat. She is a "pro" in my book when it comes to hosting chats and she added a lot of valuable information and tools that will continue to be very helpful in the future.

I have struggled with the best way to keep track of all of the chatter and follow the #mhsm hashtag during the chat. Marianne utilized a tweetchat room and also archived the chat at what the hashtag?! You can even print out the transcripts easily there!

I look forward to thoroughly reviewing the transcripts to get a good picture of what the chat was like and to get a grip on the content, but at first glance it looks like it went great and was also well attended.

This is how the chat began: "@ChildAnxiety: Tonights topic - How social media has filled a void for people and families with mental illness. #mhsm"

I couldn't be more pleased with the status of the chat. I only hope that other great minds like @ChildAnxiety will continue to add their input and help us to make this chat the best that it can be.

I am quickly realizing that my life only allows for "so much" and I need input and assistance from others who care about mental health issues and social media in order to continue the chat for the "long haul". It has come to mind that setting up a schedule of volunteer moderators/facilitators might be a great way to get others involved. I could make the @MHSMchat account a "shared account" or it could just be run from the volunteer's individual twitter account. Thoughts?

I look forward to using TweetChat for our next Mental Health and Social Media Chat which will be Tuesday March 16, 2010 at 9pm CST. I am so thankful for all the participation in the chat and promoting the #mhsm hashtag. The vision I have for bringing the #mentalhealth community together on Twitter is really taking good form!