So Twitter. If you don’t know know what it is yet, you may soon be the only one. As with any new form of communication that sucks us all into its vortex (TV?), Twitter’s rise is bringing all sorts of criticism, with bloggers and other Web pundits (pot? kettle? black?) leaping on cyber-soap boxes to proclaim that tweeting — that’s “sending Twitter messages,” for the uninitiated — will bring about the end of civil discourse and rational communication…both of which have remained oh so alive and thriving on the Internet.

The bottom line with all this new networking and communications technology is that it’s simply a vessel. Human beings can’t communicate something that isn’t there. We can’t be anything other than ourselves–it’s one of our cutest limitations. And one thing we want is to be heard–to feel that what we think/feel/say matters. Give us a shiny new Web site that allows us to broadcast our thoughts in 140-character chunks from any location in the world, and we will happily do so. Even if it means we get fired/sued/dumped/vilified. That’s the beauty of self-expression–you can’t stop it once it’s started.

So while movements are rising among “anti-Tweeters” (you have to love people who define themselves based on what they’re against–it’s a uniquely hilarious form of inauthenticity), I say go forth and tweet if you’re so inclined. If you have something pithy to say, transmit it to the world. Announce that you just fed your cat, or spent the night in jail for public urination, or decided that Memphis is the fourth circle of Hell. Embrace the ability to see a bit further into the lives and minds of others. Ignore arguments that there’s “something wrong” with all this micro-information–since when is more information ever a bad thing in this technology-crazed era?

If you want to see the best and worst of Twitter behavior thus far, check out my latest piece in Discover.

And if you want to follow me on Twitter, click here. I promise, at the very least, that I update it far more often than this blog.