Several months ago, a friend of mine from a company I used to develop software for told me about this new website. Apparently it allowed you to monitor what other people are doing, and they would monitor you as well. Neither one of us "got" it at first. Why would someone want to know everything I'm doing at any given time? I mean, after all, my own wife and kids don't want to know everything I'm doing every minute of the day!! We laughed about it and I for the most part forgot about it.

Then a couple months ago, a guy I know at work mentioned the same site, known as Twitter. He asked me if I had heard of it and I told him I had but I didn't understand the appeal. He suggested I check it out. Knowing of my conservative leanings, he told me that a lot of people out on Twitter are conservative. (this isn't actually that true, they tend to come from ALL walks of life!)

So I decided to try it out. And a few months later, I am here to confess to you that I am a Twitter addict. (No I don't need a support group - not yet anyways!)

Twitter is as fascinating of a social networking site that I've seen. In essence, for those not familiar with the site, it's really nothing more than a micro-blogging site. You have 140 characters to tell what you want to tell. So you have to be pretty creative if you have a lot to say. (or you can take the easy way out like I do sometimes and post more than one entry at a time!)

Then people out in the "Twitterverse" decide if they want to follow you. If they do, then they will see all updates you make on their Home page. You can then decide to follow them or not. And you can follow anyone you want, whether or not they are following you.

So what do you use Twitter for? Well, pretty much anything you want! There aren't any real rules, just like normal blogging, it's up to you to decide how to use it. Some people write about specific topics, others write about whatever is on their mind. And yes, some people do use it for the mundane. Even I've done that a time or two - it's funny to think about the things that seem interesting to you and are so NOT interesting to anyone else!

Some people try to get as many followers as they can and try to follow everyone that follows them. I'm not that concerned with that. I follow people if they interest me and if I lose interest I stop following them. It doesn't hurt my feelings at all if someone stops following me, that to me just seems to be the nature of the "social environment" in Twitter. People come and go in real life, and they do in Twitter as well.

I've met some interesting people out in Twitter. I've started following lots of people from South Dakota and I've met one who runs a business here in my town and was giving away free t-shirts one day. I stopped by and got to meet her face to face - and got a T-Shirt in the process. I've met another lady who is very involved in helping animals who gave me some good advice on issues we've had with our dog's barking.

I follow some celebrities as well. I follow a few from Star Trek -being a big trekkie and all. Levar Burton, William Shatner, Brent Spiner and Wil Wheaton are all out there and they tweet quite a bit, with the exception of William Shatner, his only come every so often.

I also follow some others as well. In fact, I follow Demi Moore - call it an old boyhood crush from the 80's if you will - and today I was monitoring something that happened with her before it made news in ANY paper. A lady who follows Demi Moore had decided to use her Twitter account unfortunately as a form of a suicide note - or a cry for help anyways - and had sent a message to Demi indicating her intentions. Demi then "retweeted" the message to others - which means she essentially sent it to her followers. Then those followers began contacting the police where this lady lives and they were able to track her down and get her into observation. It's a sad story, but it ended well because this lady should now get the help she needs. And all because of this microcosm of a universe known as Twitter. (and of course Demi Moore and her followers!)

So, for those out here who are avid hub writers, you should check this site out. You just might find it to be more interesting than you think! And maybe one day we'll be sitting side by side at a TAA meeting! (Twitter-aholics Anonymous)

"My name is SoDakDoogie and I'm a twitter-aholic..."