What are you doing? asks Twitter. “What’s on your mind?” prods Facebook. The way we receive information is changing at unprecedented speed. According to the excellent “Shift Happens” demographics video, it took radio 38 years to reach a level of 50 million listeners and television 13 years to garner the same number of viewers. The Internet gained 50 million subscribers in just 4 years. The Facebook social utility did the same in half the time. And I venture to write that it took Twitter, founded in 2007, just months. Hard to believe it’s been only 10 years since the first blog was published, creating a revolutionary wave of social networks (Podcast, YouTube, Flickr, MySpace and LinkedIn, to name just a few). This second-generation Internet technology affects the way we connect with one another and how we gather information, and it represents a new way of doing business. With more than 74 million members, Facebook–the largest of the networks–recently changed its prompt from “What are you doing right now?” to “What’s on your mind?” The new question instantly changed the dialogue from action-based to more philosophical, thought-based responses. Seeking a way to better connect with my neighbors, I established a Facebook account and invited Downtowners to join. It’s amazing to realize how interconnected we are to one another. Then, I discovered Twitter. Just as e-mail made the art of manual letter writing obsolete, Twitter is supplanting long typed messages to friends and colleagues. With a tweet of 140 characters, one can create a clever, often witty, sound bite of information. A tweet can update a position in time and space to bring about a serendipitous connection, make the writer more human by offering a snapshot of life or just make someone smile. Have you ever walked around a corner in a city other than San Diego and bumped into your college roommate? Or called a friend and discovered she was just that moment thinking of you? Or ever relayed an anecdote to find out the center of the story was your listener’s sister? I muse… What do you get when you cross 6 degrees of separation — the theory that persons A and B are genealogically separated by 5 people at most, assuming persons A and B aren’t acquainted with each other — with the butterfly effect? I asked Downtowner Twitterers why they tweet. “I tweet because it keeps me in touch with my friends and business! Very simple. It’s a great tool, catching the eye of everyone!” — Manny Cepeda, Bella Via “Twitter is like blogging for the lazy. I was skeptical as to how useful it would be but quickly realized it’s quite addictive!” — Brian Graham, Nexus “I like using Twitter because it’s easy and provides a streamlined message. I put a message up, my friends receive it. Everyone should join!” — Kara Galasso-Garcia, Villa Maria Try it! Send me a tweet at ­twitter.com/SandraLSimmons. Want to be connected to your neighbors? Send me an e-mail to join Viva-city’s Facebook at ­[email protected]. Viva-city, fostering a vibrant, welcoming community, where residents greet neighbors as friends! Visit www.viva-city.info.