In case you haven't heard by now, The Citizen is tweeting.

And if you have no clue what that means, don't worry. It wasn't long ago that I was under the same rock.

But make no mistake, an online phenomenon known as Twitter is spreading rapidly all over the world, and it's quickly becoming a dominant communication tool and even an information source for many people.

Here's the description at the twitter.com Web site:

“Twitter is a service for friends, family, and co-workers to communicate and stay connected through the exchange of quick, frequent answers to one simple question: What are you doing?”

The Citizen has been providing those answers, largely through headlines and links to some of our more intriguing headlines, at twitter.com/the_citizen. Like a lot of newspapers, we're just getting started. Still, without much publicity we've managed to grab the attention of 73 “followers.” We're “following” 74 other Twitterers out there, as well.

Many of us new to Twitter scratch our heads at the attraction. It's tough to say much in 140 characters or less, the limit Twitter puts on individual posts. And many users of Twitter are posting some of the most mundane details you could imagine: “I'm brushing my teeth.”

But for a couple of friends just looking to check in with each other online, information like that might be useful.

It seems to me that most of the Twitter sites tied to an organization or company such as The Citizen are trying to keep their posts related to something they are doing that would interest a broader audience. In our case, we're reaching out to the Twitterers who might have an interest in news and information in and around Cayuga County.

They can check in at our site and decide if there's something in the paper they might want to check out later. They can also send us a quick note about something they might think warrants coverage.

Twitter is not the only online social networking platform The Citizen is using to share information with potential readers. We also have pages at Facebook and My Space.

The driving force behind these efforts here is Jessica Harkins, our marketing and innovation coordinator, and a person who is a lot more Web savvy than I could ever hope to be.

But I do know that a big part of our future is being able to communicate with our audience through a wide array of media channels, and efforts like these are an important step.

Executive editor Jeremy Boyer's columns appear Tuesdays in The Citizen and he can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 231 or jeremy.boyer@lee.net