Column:

Twitter not just for self-absorbed

By Gwen Daniels

Published Sept. 8, 2008

"Writing my column and eating Chewy Chips Ahoy with extra-crunchy peanut butter! 5:06 p.m., Sept. 6, 2008."

Several times a day, my friends' cell phones vibrate with a special notification, letting them know what I'm thinking, doing or feeling.

Thanks to the social networking Web site Twitter.com, my friends and followers find out in 140 characters or less that I read a chapter for news class, watched an episode of "The Hills" or listened to "This American Life" on my iPod while exercising.

Twitter users can post brief Facebook status-esque "tweets," which are then sent to their subscribers via text message, instant message, e-mail or the Twitter Web site.

The networking site has more than 2.2 million users, but I only have a handful of followers. Most of my friends think Twitter is either pointless or a mispronounced and inappropriate word for the female anatomy.

I'm trying to convince my best friend Amber to start her own account (or to at least read mine), but she calls me self-obsessed. When I suggest that she follow my account, Amber looks at me like I'm insane.

"Why would I want to read that?" she says. "I don't need to know what you're up to every hour of every day. You always tell me what you're doing, anyway."

Amber's comments still resonate with me sometimes as I check my page. She is, unfortunately, very wise and always right. When she offers life advice, you should heed her words, rethink your motives and ambitions and break up with your boyfriend. Now.

So, why do I update my Twitter status two, three or four times a day?

I began tweeting because Julia Allison tweets - Allison, the girly-girl dating columnist, Web personality and self-promoter who skyrocketed to fame after she showed up at a Gawker.com Halloween party dressed as a condom fairy and, two years later, graced the cover of Wired magazine.

"Get Internet famous, even if you're nobody!" the tagline announced.

Twitter isn't limited to self-promotional college students and condom fairies anymore. It's a tool for politicians and journalists.

Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama uses Twitter to keep his supporters - including more than 76,000 followers on the site - in the loop. As I'm writing my column, Obama is in Terre Haute, Ind., holding a "Change We Need" discussion with families there. (Republican presidential nominee John McCain does not have an official Twitter account.)

According to the Twitter Inc. blog, Obama's campaign will use tweets to mobilize voters in November.

"What Obama is creating is this army of individuals, these grass-roots activists, who are out there trying to change the world in 160 characters or less," Republican strategist David All said in a story from The Associated Press.

The blog displays line graphs tracking Twitter activity surrounding the acceptance speeches by both parties' nominees for president and vice president.

And the news media uses Twitter.com to provide live coverage of current events and to inform subscribers of breaking news.

Some journalists use tweets to work their own remarks into a story, an online extension of a reporter's notebook, Congressional Quarterly columnist Elizabeth Wasserman wrote.

Covering Obama's speech in Berlin, for example, Time.com Washington Editor Ana Marie Cox tweeted: "Fun fact: 10,000s of Germans gathering to cheer a charismatic leader is not, typically, considered a good thing! 10:38 a.m., July 24, 2008."

In April, when James Buck, a journalism student at the University of California- Berkeley, was arrested in Egypt for photographing an anti-government protest, he tweeted his way to freedom. Buck immediately tweeted "arrested" and updated followers on his condition until he was released from jail the next day.

My friend Amber may never read my updates, but social networking Web sites are gently and surely shaping American politics, journalism and culture. Sites such as Twitter.com give self-promoters - noble politicians and journalists, and indulgent non-celebrities alike - and their followers a chance to sound off on the issues they care about.