We've been tweeting here at The Advertiser for some time and the social networking tool Twitter has been around since 2006, but I have never seen the need to do it myself until now.

For the uninformed, Twitter is a quick and efficient way to communicate — in 140 characters — what you're doing at any given moment. Some of it is tedious minutiae that wouldn't make for even a few seconds of interesting conversation ("I'm working and talking on the phone") but it is one of the most popular ways — 1 billion tweets and counting so far — to disseminate information.

We use eight different Twitter accounts (@honadv, @honadv sports, @honadvbusiness, @honadvlocal, @honadv traffic, @honadvlife, @honadvent and @hon advopinion) that contain feeds from each of our department's headlines. All told, they have about 9,300 followers. Nearly 20 of our bloggers have their own accounts and often will break news from their beats via Twitter, as happens with UH football reporter Stephen Tsai and government reporter Derrick DePledge. Many other Advertiser employees have their own accounts and tweet about their lives.

Twitter is an excellent way to report news and to collect information that can be used in the creation of stories. Micro-blogging is also helpful during emergencies, when short and quick updates are crucial in life-threatening situations.

Most news organizations have Twitter accounts to provide information, and politicians, from Barack Obama to Mufi Hannemann, provide running Twitter updates. Much of the news reported from the Iranian protests of several months ago came from those on Twitter accounts after authorities blocked Facebook and YouTube feeds. Companies such as Starbucks and Southwest Airlines have their own accounts to tout their specials.

My Twitter feeds will be limited mostly to how we make news decisions or contain tidbits of interest from our news or online coverage. I might even break some news, as I did Tuesday morning in being the first to report that the Norah Jones concert was canceled.

So far, with only 24 followers, I have a ways to go to catch up to Ashton Kutcher (3.4 million followers), Britney Spears (3 million), Ryan Seacrest (2.15 million) or even Weird Al Yankovic (1.1 million), but I'm sure I'll make up the difference in no time.