I gave Twitter a try back around SXSWi. I liked it, but it posed a couple of problems. First, I ended up getting so many SMSes that it made my phone significantly less useful. Second, the messages were typically from acquaintances on the west coast — nobody in DC used it.

But that's all changed. I finally installed Growl and Twitterific, which allow me to see my friends' updates in tasteful, unobtrusive windows in the upper right of my screen. "Ambient intimacy" is the phrase the Twitter people use, and it's just about right — I really do like knowing that al3x just had a sub-par bagel, or that Rich found an awesome new software tool. And Yglesias and Ezra have started using it with gusto, providing content relevant to my life in DC and encouraging me to respond in kind.

So I'm a Twitter born-again, I suppose, and have even gone so far as to install a badge in the sidebar, which is the web services equivalent of going steady. If any of this sounds intriguing, maybe you should give it a shot, too. Which is my long-winded way of saying: come entertain me, dammit.