Some 32 million people do it - sending short message bursts called tweets that answer one question: What are you doing now?
In 140 characters or less, you could be updating your followers, which could be the world if you are United States President Barack Obama, on whether you just "killed two cockroaches, one an albino" or "am hankering for ice cream".
These are real tweets, by the way. The posts - it has been dubbed the 21st century's telegraph system - can be sent via mobile texting or the Web.
Here is how to get on the Twitter train.
- Go to Twitter.com and click the green Get Started-Join tab.
You will be prompted to choose a username and password. Use your real name when signing up - this ensures that your friends can find your Twitter profile easily.
Click final green tab: Create my account.
- This page will pop up: See if your friends are on Twitter.
Just type in your password and the program will find the contacts in your e-mail account, for instance, Yahoo, if you used that e-mail address to sign up.
Decide who you want to invite to follow you.
They will then receive an e-mail telling them that you are on Twitter, and that they can also sign up with Twitter if they want to follow you.
Once your Twitter account is up and running, tell your friends your username or send them the link to your Twitter page.
Your page URL will be: twitter.com/username.
- To receive status updates from your friends, use the search bar and enter your friend's username.
Next, press the Add link in the Actions box.
You can now see his tweets on your page.
- To update your tweets, enter your 140-character text in the status bar on the Twitter Web page.
- Or, access Twitter on your mobile phone.
To connect your phone with your Twitter account, scroll to the bottom of the Twitter website.
Click the Apps option.
You will see a list of applications that you can download to your phone.
Hot apps include twidroid.com (for Android OS-based phones) and twitterric (for Windows Mobile phones).
Once you have downloaded the app onto your phone, you can start sending tweets directly from your handset.
Remember that data charges apply.
This story was first published in The Straits Times Digital Life.
