I almost got suckered into believing all of the naysaying about Twitter "just being a waste of time."

In order to doublecheck my insecurities, I flipped through the past 24 hours of tweets so that I could audit whether or not I am actually learning anything from the time I spend there.

Turns out Twitter is actually where I pick up the most information related to the business of connecting / rallying via the Information Super Highway. By following a group of tweesters, carefully selected on the basis of how disciplined they are about posting good, relevant information, I am fortunate to receive a steady flow of the most comprehensive and hand-picked online news (very soon to be known simply as "news"). In addition to learning that 1,000 Los Angeles homes were destroyed in crazy fires, gas is $1.81 in Columbia, SC, and that President Elect Barack Obama will have to surrender his Blackberry upon inaguration, I learned:

• Where to get Mac Smackdown buttons. Awesome for maintaining fun workplace detentes with self-righteous Mac-fetishists (like myself). 
• About the Eat Well Guide, and Alternet's opinion of it. The Eat Well Guide is a fantastic online resource for those fixated on eating food that, when one thinks about its production, doesn't make one squeamish. I bring it to our collective attention not just as a place to find a good free-range burger, but also as an example of how your organization might consider serving the public beyond providing a survey and another social networking presense. 
• More information than I ever thought I would need on texting my way to eating sustainably caught fish. Yet another sustainability reference and yet another example of providing a service that keeps them coming back for more. 
• That Apps for Democracy brought on the construction of 47 applications in 30 days - over 2 million dollars in development work, and a 4,000% turn around in investment (!) This is a really amazing story. Check it out. Want to know how to fully maximize a development budget and totally diversify incoming ideas regarding tech development? Host an ideas challenge. 
• Seth Godin began tweeting about 36 hours ago. Stop reading me and go read Seth.
• That the debate regarding the effectiveness of tweeting can get damn nasty. This is a great look into a conversation regarding how necessary tweeting really is (in the legal community in this case) that reflects how intense and petty conversations about transparency can get. It's worth taking a look at, especially if you've ever had second thoughts about getting your tweet on, as it were. 
• About Katie Couric's hot-and-botheredness for Internet technology and civic engagement. Katie nods her head at the wonder of the Internet. If you ever need to sell someone in your organization re: boosting your Internet game, how can one say no to Katie Couric? 
• There are smallscale solutions to the climate crisis for sale ona  blog near you. Does your organization sell stuff? Is it me, or does selling stuff give one (or an NPO) a certain undefinable air of legitimacy?
• And finally, blogging really does fit into social media. Some people wax like blogging is so 2002. In fact, it's as intimate as you can really get in the social sphere. Check it out. (Have I mentioned that a "things I learned on Twitter" post is a quick and easy way to let people know what you're reading and why the information is important to your readers?)

[Note: If you have an intern or web-outreach person maintaining your organization's Twitter account, you might want to have them put together a similarly formatted digest of information gleaned from Twitter.]