I first heard about Twitter over two years ago, when I was perusing fitness blogs. Some of the fitness bloggers had taken to using Twitter in order to track their daily food intake, meal-by-meal. Although this was before Twitter had applications that allowed for better smartphone functionality, such as TwitterBerry and TweetDeck, which would have allowed them to tweet what they were eating immediately after a meal, it still seemed like a convenient tool. I gave it a shot, but never really got into it then. My Twitter quickly stagnated, and I never would have guessed that a little less than two years later, Twitter would become a pop culture sensation.

I can’t remember exactly how Twitter started becoming so popular. Something about Ashton Kutcher and Shaquille O’Neal having a Twitter, so I decided to sign back up. As soon as I signed in, I saw that I could follow so many more celebrities than just them, although the list only extended from “celebrities I kind of like” to “celebrities I don’t really even know.”

I followed, and then quickly unfollowed, Stephen Fry. As lovable as the man is, he Twitters too damn much. Twitter has been a bastion of (mostly useless) information as well. I learned from Cesar Milan (the Dog Whisperer) that dogs sweat through the pads of their feet, and I was one of the first to know that Gavin Newsom would be running for governor of California, as his very first announcement was through his own Twitter. I know when a Twittering baseball player feels like he has tendinitis, and when he feels like it’s just shoulder soreness, and I now know that the writers of the Office act a great deal like the fictional writers of 30 Rock.

I stopped Twittering about a month after I joined, because I realized that, even though I think it’s hilarious, no one really cares that my dog almost burst through the sliding glass door in her (successful) attempt to eat a fly. However Twitter is definitely still a feature in my daily “rotation” of the ten or so sites that I visit multiple times on a daily basis. However, I’m a fickle follower, and I find myself deleting 3-4 more Twitters from my follow list per week. And as tech savvy as I am, I still don’t quite get the re-tweet thing. What, @ replies weren’t good enough?

One lesser-known feature, in terms of how to use it, is the trending hash #. Used for games, protests, and just plain silly Internet themes, the trending hash is placed in front of a word or phrase to make it stand out when talking among people. That way, when searching trends, the hash mark makes a common phrase for a game stand out among ways it may be used in other tweets.

One popular Trend is called #blamedrewscancer. Twitter users #blamedrewscancer for things that go poorly, and BlameDrewsCancer,com records it, hoping for a company to sponsor each blame towards a cancer foundation.

Twitter is something that is here to stay. People devoted to other Social Networking sites will eventually come around and see that Twitter is a fantastic communication too. It’s ease of use, unique features and variety of people is a testament to it’s lasting power.

You can follow anyone, from ZombieCptPicard to MSNBC. GossipGirl updates you on that guilty pleasure show you watch, and your best friend complains about the homework they forgot until last minute.

In the age of communication, I highly recommend everyone starts Tweeting. Otherwise, you’re just out of the loop.

Twitter houses a significant number of people. Let’s start with a few examples of small companies using twitter to reach their clients we have Jetpens.com, Field Notes, and Doane Paper. Jetpens is an imported Japanese pen company, that broadcasts things like pen reviews, pen giveaways, sales, and offers on money off, along with their new products in their updates. Field Notes recently gave away notebooks as well. Doane Paper is a company that sells 3 products, all of them based around the idea of graph paper+lined paper = best paper for everyone. It’s exploded with a cult following, especially among fountain pen users, because the paper takes the ink well, and has small spacing, for those with tiny handwriting.

On top of that, we have some larger companies, with representatives that form the all-important human side of their huge business. Uni-ball has a person, Sharpie does as well(despite being the same company overall), Staples and Office Depot. The point of these is having a part of a company that will actually talk to you on a daily basis. Comparing favorite pens with a member of the Uni-ball corp definitely encourages you to get their pens next time, or at least remember them when you’re shopping.

A lot of people still only see twitter as a way to stalk their favorite celebrities, or perhaps to interact with Neil Gaiman, or Amanda Palmer. The difference, though, is between the celebrities who tweet back, like Felicia Day, and the celebrities who don’t tweet back. The ones who tweet back are likely building a dedicated fan base around the fact that they’re talented, social, and willing to talk with their fans.

A similar thing is done by Webcomic artists, such as Lar deSouza and Sohmer, the creators of Looking For Group and Least I Could Do. Perhaps a more recognizable pair is Gabe and Tycho, of Penny Arcade fame. Jeph Jaques, who writes and illustrates Questionable Content, also keeps and updates a twitter.

Most of these semi-famous people use it to let their fans in on their daily lives, for things such as grocery shopping, movies they watch, whatever they’re randomly doing(which brings to mind the night a few weeks ago that Amanda Palmer accidentally took over the internet because she didn’t want to clean her apartment—you can google or check the tags on twitter for “#lofnotc” if you’re interested about learning more.

Twitter has many different uses. For companies, and for individuals. Mainly companies use it to immediately broadcast things like sales, or the above-mentioned giveaways. But for individuals, it’s an easy to way to follow your favorite blogger, even if you’re not familiar with RSS feeds.

The recently added @ tab on the right-hand side, allows you to see how many times you’ve been re-tweeted by people. And lastly, my definition of Twitter: Twitter: A selective, global chatroom that has the pulse of the world. Whatever we’re concerned about, it’s on there. Whatever we’re thinking about, it’s in there.

It’s a new way to connect without being too personal or too invading, a fun new way to send messages across the inter-webs.