Tweeps want to know ...

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Jason Turcotte of Easthampton, who owns a computer support and Web site design business, is the founder of Western Mass. TweetUps, for area Twitter fans. The social networking system enables instant communication -- in 140 characters or less. Here Turcotte reviews tweets from Twitter pals.

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Twitter, a form of instant messaging, is the latest way people are staying in touch. Above, University of Massachusetts student Richard Murphy checks his phone for tweets in front of Du Bois Library.

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UMass student Pam Carter tweets outside Du Bois Library. Jarice Hanson, a communication professor at the university, says Twitter's premise -- letting people know exactly what you are doing at that moment -- raises issues. "'What are you doing?' That's what every advertiser really wants to know," Hanson says. "What are you doing right now and how can I reach you?"

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Tish Grier, who runs a business helping companies use social media, at the TweetUp. Grier says she uses Twitter around two hours a day.

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Candy and Keith Laflam of Goshen at a recent "TweetUp" at The Dirty Truth in Northampton. Jason Turcotte of Easthampton organized the event to bring together area people who share his passion for tweeting.

"Follow me where I go what I do and who I know
Make it part of you to be a part of me"
-- John Denver, who didn't have a clue about Twitter when he penned this song, "Follow Me," in 1970

Jason Turcotte is sitting in his small Easthampton office, facing a large computer screen. He is interrupting his work as owner of Turcotte Data & Designs to guide me through the process of setting up an online Twitter account. Twitter.com is the jumping-off point for the social networking phenomenon that has whipped the world into a tweeting frenzy. Its defining characteristic is that it provides a universal conversation starter, asking people to answer the question "What are you doing?" in 140 characters or less. That amounts to a couple of lines.

I have resisted this meeting, because I am reluctant to reveal to Turcotte, an affable man with a fast mind, how incompetent I am when it comes to this newest microblogging sensation (and to all texting, truth be told).

Turcotte, 37, is unfazed by my cluelessness. "You don't know it till you know it," he says, turning the screen so I can watch what he does.

I doubt he can convince me that tweeting -- the act of exchanging brief messages with people, in real time -- is anything more than another distraction in a cyber world already packed with them, and I say so.

"You have to give it time. You have to give it at least a week," he says.

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As he talks me through the steps on his screen, helping me choose a user name and password, he says Twitter has served him well -- offering everything from getting a swift response to a work-related problem, to sharing a playful tweet with his wife, Lisa, to rounding up western Mass. folks for a "TweetUp." A TweetUp is an actual face-to-face get-together. He is the founder of Western Mass. TweetUps, an expanding group that has in common geographical location and a love of tweeting.

Turcotte finishes the brief sign-in process, and suddenly I am an official member of Twitter.

Now what?

Because I don't have an iPhone or a BlackBerry, mobile devices with full keyboards that enable swift texting and have fueled Twitter's popularity, I will receive tweets on my Twitter home page. I also could have them routed to my phone as text messages, but my phone, sadly, is a dinosaur: a traditional cell phone with a tiny screen. "Tweeting out" (sending a message) from my phone could take up to a couple of minutes -- light-years in Turcotte's world.

The next hurdle is that I don't know anyone who tweets, so I can't round up "followers." Followers are friends, family and others who will send me messages through my invitation. Turcotte says he can help with that. He reaches for his iPhone and taps out a tweet with astonishing speed and accuracy: "Hey, folks, Deb Oakley just joined Twitter. Give her a shout out, OK?"

He smiles at the instructiveness of this practical application. "OK, I've just communicated to 300 and something people in 15 seconds."

A few people have appeared on my Twitter home page, thanks to Turcotte. I have to jump in, "tweet out," as they say. What should I write? I have tweetyfright. I should just answer the question: "What are you doing?" Well, what AM I doing? I'm worrying about sending this damned tweet.

Across the Pioneer Valley, people of all ages have embraced the slick messaging service that offers instant communication via various mobile devices and online, along with a built-in challenge: compressing one's thoughts into 140 characters.

Turcotte estimates the number of western Mass. "tweeps" to be in the thousands, but he can't say for sure, since Twitter doesn't offer geographical statistics.

Twitter differs from the popular online social networking service Facebook in a key way: You have to go to a Facebook page to find out what people are doing. Twitter brings people to you, provided you are "following" them. It is a form of texting, like other instant messaging services, but it compels shorter answers and allows broader access to people.

A number of local businesspeople have adopted Twitter as a companion to communication vehicles already in place -- instant messaging, Facebook, email and, in a pinch, the phone. Those who use Twitter swear by it, saying it offers another way to advertise their businesses, to network, to connect with friends and family, and to meet new people.

"The technologically savvy person will probably get more out of it, although there are plenty of [other people] who like Twitter," according to Turcotte, whose business specializes in Web consulting and graphics design. "Most of your messages may be about your friends' exploits ... but a certain percentage of your tweet stream may become invaluable. It's about what YOU want [out of it]."

Turcotte monitors most of his tweets on his computer. He has a few sent to his phone.

Detractors have multiple complaints. Some say they simply have no use for Twitter, calling it time wasted on what amounts to reading people's diary entries.

Others see it as an invasive cyber gimmick. They say it has insinuated itself into every form of communication, from politicians rudely tweeting during a speech by President Obama, to movie stars messaging about heartbreak, to youngsters obsessively tweeting friends. They say it further isolates people from one another.

To one UMass expert who follows the influence of technology trends, Twitter's breezy veneer of lighthearted exchanges belies concerns about its deeper agenda, and about privacy issues, especially when it comes to young people.

Here I go: "Hey tweetmates. need tweets for HL piece." There. That wasn't so bad.

Jarice Hanson is a communication professor at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. She studies, in her words, "how electronic media influence social changes in society."

She is following Twitter's effect closely.

"People don't realize this," she said. "It's just the question Twitter poses: 'What are you doing?' That's what every advertiser really wants to know. What are you doing right now and how can I reach you?"

Twitter's founders say the service, funded by venture capital, still has not determined how it will make money. Hanson suspects Twitter is angling to corner the business of mobile marketing.

"Twitter has tremendous potential to tell companies what you are doing. They can figure out a profile of the typical kind of Twitter users. How we fill our time, for example." From information gleaned from messages, and from some phones that have GPS systems, Hanson said, "they can usually even tell where we are. Twitter then sells the information to third-party businesses." Advertising firms can sift that information and craft ads targeted to specific people in specific areas.

"The most troublesome thing is that it becomes natural in our lives, and the more we see these things as natural, the more we accept commercialization," she said. "And the more we willingly give up information about ourselves, we give up our privacy, too. Most people just don't realize it."

Bunch of new people on my home page. Received several email messages that read, "(name of someone I don't know) is following you." That is good. I now have 13 followers. Actor Ashton Kutcher has over a million followers. Everyone has to start somewhere, right?

Twitter is the technological brainchild of Jack Dorsey, a native of St. Louis, Mo., who as young as age 14 was interested in the Short Message Service, an early version of text messaging that used a 140-character limit. In 2000 he started an online company dispatching couriers, emergency vehicles and taxis. That same year, inspired in part by AOL Instant Messenger, he had the idea for real-time-status communication. He connected with Biz Stone of Wellesley, who worked at Odeo, a company offering podcasts -- online audios and videos for iPods and other mobile devices. Evan Williams, originally from Nebraska, had built Odeo.

An article in the online edition of The Wall Street Journal reported that Williams transformed Odeo into Twitter by removing the podcasting. He and Dorsey built the prototype model for Twitter in two weeks.

According to Wikipedia, the number of users is hard to pin down, because the company does not release figures on active accounts. Some estimates claim Twitter has 6 million users and 55 million visits per month.

An online media Web site called Compete.com in February ranked Twitter as the third most-used social network, after Facebook and MySpace.

Those heady numbers have a counterpoint already creating a buzz: Nielsen Online, a global information and media company, recently reported that some 60 percent of U.S. Twitter users fail to return the following month.

On my home page, found two updates from Turcotte and 11 from cyclist Lance Armstrong. When Turcotte signed me up, he clicked a button that told Twitter to collect my email address book. Armstrong's cancer foundation is on that list, which now is linked to his tweets. He certainly has a lot to say! Here's an example: "chef duffy has my whole coffee system set up in my room." Am I interested in that? In a funny way, I guess I am.

Candy Laflam, 35, of Pampered Pet Sitting in Easthampton, confesses she thought the whole thing was "stupid" at first. Since then, she has embraced Twitter, employing it to reassure clients that their pets are being well cared for. "I can send [clients] a quick tweet, tell them Fido looks great. That way, they know I was there," she said.

Twitter "is a community-based thing, a social way of doing business," she said. "It gets my name out there, helps me make Twitter friends who are in different lines of work." Seeing her tweets about furry clients might prompt people to seek her services.

Tish Grier, 48, of Easthampton, resisted the new messaging system when she heard about it a couple of years ago. "It seemed it wasn't used much by grown-ups," she said.

Still, it was important for her to understand it, since that is part of her business. She works with companies of all sizes to help them understand and incorporate newer social media, like Twitter.

As Twitter's potential as an effective business marketing tool became more apparent, more people started using it. That made Grier happy. She "meets" interesting people from all over the world, and also forges business relationships. "I enjoy making connections, talking with people," she said.

Grier has 568 followers, people whose updates appear on her home page. She doesn't check all of them, not by a long shot. "I weave [Twitter] into my other forms of social media," like email, she said. She estimates she spends around two hours a day on Twitter, not much by her standards. "I'm not an obsessive follower," she said.

There are ways to sort tweets, but Grier said she doesn't need those programs. TweetDeck is a popular one. "It's all a jumble, but I naturally filter. You learn to skim."

She holds a dim view of celebrity tweets, because those are not give-and-take experiences, which, in her view, are the heart and soul of Twitter. "It's a one-way street," she said of celebrity messages, adding that many celebrities have assistants who tweet for them.

It is clear to me now that Lance isn't going to request my tweets. How disappointing is that? Maybe I'm bitter, but his tweets aren't all that great. Here's one: "team meeting." Give me a break.

Jarice Hanson, the UMass professor, notes that young teens who sign onto social networking services are unlikely to think about the big picture. "These people don't have a sense of a critical use of technology," she said. "So these social networking services are really targeting a group of consumers who won't question the impact of the technology, what it means to their privacy and sense of self. Younger people don't think about what the potential consequences are."

Julie Rosten, 46, of Northampton, is bothered by privacy concerns, as well as by the amount of time her daughter, Anna Rosten Barondes, 13, already spends on her cell phone and on updating her Facebook page. Though Twitter requires users to be 13 or older to start an account, Rosten thinks that's too young.

Anna asked her mother several weeks ago if she could start a Twitter account. "I said no," Rosten said. "She said why not. I said you have Facebook."

Rosten said she doesn't know the specifics of Twitter, only that "from what I've heard, it keeps you plugged in constantly."

"There's already enough ways we can stay connected," Rosten said. "Anna's in Florida [right now] and she posts [on Facebook] what they've done that day. I don't think she needs to be more plugged in than that." Rosten said she must be the gatekeeper of her daughter's privacy, to ensure her safety. "At 13, they need those restraints," she said, "even though they don't think they do." Anna's sister, Leah Rosten Barondes, is 7. Though she has not requested a Facebook page or Twitter account, Rosten said, "She is watching it all very closely."

Asked whether she might tweet, Rosten laughed. "I don't want everyone to know I'm going to Stop & Shop to get a watermelon out of season."

Confessions of a fearful tweep: I have not checked my home page for five days, not knowing what I will find. Turcotte, my mentor, surely has taken notice. I'll check it now. Good Lord! Where did all these tweets come from? I only have 10 followers, but they are prolific! I feel like I am on the Enterprise with the tribbles. Remember them? In a famous "Star Trek" episode, a purring little fur ball begins to breed, until the ship is overrun with them. What was it Turcotte said? "Twitter is viral -- in a social way!" Suddenly, I'm not so sure.

Betsy Sullivan of Northampton teaches sixth grade at New Hingham Elementary School in Chesterfield. She sees a sea change in the way people experience the world, thanks to electronic technology, particularly in her students. "I think attention spans are shorter [than in years past]," said Sullivan, 51, who has worked at the school since 1991.

"Kids have iPods and they all have cell phones. They never have any down time. They never have a chance to be away from each other, and it increases their social anxiety. They have to know what their friends are doing all the time. They don't want to be left out of the loop."

Sullivan is troubled that the joy of taking time to reflect seems to be disappearing. "Life has become a surface activity," she said. "Nobody is where they are anymore. Everybody is in two places at once."

Jarice Hanson, who has written a book titled: "24/7: How Cell Phones and the Internet Change the Way We Live, Work, and Play," also wondered where all this is leading. "You have to ask, are we creating a world in which technology takes the place of human beings? Sometimes [texting] is used as a substitution for real connections with people. All of us have to socialize with people to be well-rounded human beings," she said.

Turcotte is in his office, tweeting out that a Gazette photographer is taking pictures of him for the article. I am there, too. Less than two minutes later, I hear a soft "dinging" sound. Turns out it is his phone, alerting him that replies are coming in. "Show your best side," he reads; and "tell them to make you look skinny."

Replies, in two minutes!

Turcotte came up with the idea for a western Mass. TweetUp, a real-time, face-to-face gathering, after hearing about similar get-togethers in eastern Mass. "We wanted to assert our western-Massness,"he said with a smile.

To reach folks, he created a tag for his tweet, #wmtu (Western Mass. TweetUp). The pound sign, called a hash tag, groups tweets by topic. Turcotte also added an existing tag, #westernma, to his tweet. Anyone following those topics, which Twitter organizesthrough a search mode on the home page, received word that Turcotte was arranging a gathering. One TweetUp took place at the Dirty Truth bar in Northampton on a warm afternoon last month.

Some 35 people, including me, showed up. I stood out as the only one not wearing a name tag bearing my Twitter user name.

Turcotte stationed himself near the door like an attentive maitre d', greeting folks. "The tweeting community is a welcoming community," he said.

Tweeps sat around a large table in the window, chatting, connecting faces to tweets.

Candy Laflam was there with her husband, Keith, talking about their pet-sitting business.

Tish Grier was there, too, beaming, because this gathering represented a missing link.

"I think of the Internet as a village, a city. [With Twitter] I'm looking for conversation. It's like a huge cocktail party. I'm listening to bits, seeing if there's a conversation I want to be part of."

Still, she said, "Face-to-face contact makes it real. We are human, and we need to connect words with their being, with body language, with voices."

Found this on home page today: "Did that TweetUp article get published yet?" Here's my tweet: "Who has time to write with all this tweeting?"

Deborah Oakley is a writer and editor at the Gazette. She can be reached at DOakley@gazettenet.com.