How are you handling Twitter?

Do you have a Twitter handle (ex. @RuthDobson)?  Have you ever tweeted?  Do you understand the meaning of the word hashtag?

With an estimated 200 million+ global users, Twitter is an online social networking platform of which you’re most likely already aware.

The Trends functionality within the standard Twitter profile allows users to see discussion topics in virtual real-time that are trending and most popular among other users located in different geographic locations around the world.  Basically, the Trends function allows you to quickly and easily discover sentiments of others related to current world events and global happenings, as well as countless past, present and future-related ideas and items of interest.

For example, after selecting the “Worldwide” setting within the Trends function, I discovered that the following topics were most popular among users tweeting earlier today, October 8, 2011:

#Yaris
#CosasQueNoPuedoEvitar
#BiggestLoserFinale
RIP Al Davis
GREYSON IS THE INSPIRATION
#9DAYS
UNBROKEN TOUR IN BRAZIL
Congrats LarryJEDWARD WOW OH WOW
PROUD OF 1D

Do any of the above hashtags or phrases peak your interest enough to search Twitter to learn more?  Or, would you be more interested in seeing topics that were or are trending in your local neighborhood?

Apple co-founder Steve Jobs died three days ago, and millions of global Twitter users have expressed their reactions to Jobs’ passing via tweets.  Searching the hashtag, #stevejobs, on Twitter today reveals the continued sentiments of many organizations and individuals in tweets, such as:

BrooklynBrewery The Brooklyn Brewery
Paying our respects to a man who changed the world bit.ly/qwQpdb #stevejobs

CathySal Cathy Salazar
Retweet if you are touching an Apple product #SteveJobs #iSad

Tweet_Dec Declan Cashin
Gawker: What everyone is too polite to say about #SteveJobs gaw.kr/rqD5xV

beppe_grillo Beppe Grillo
[Commento] 10 years ago we had #SteveJobs, #BobHope and #JohnnyCash. Now we have no Jobs, no Hope and no Cash goo.gl/EvYkI

swoldhek Siegfried Woldhek
A portrait of #SteveJobs. The man with golden eyes http://ow.ly/6RccO

eorlins Eliza Orlins
Walking by the #apple store at 14th street. Moved by the tribute to #SteveJobs. twitpic.com/6wody1

yoanifromcuba Yoani Sanchez
#Cuba I was born in a society where talent and desire to innovate can be politically penalized . But you inspired me #stevejobs

NewYorker The New Yorker
Steve Jobs was a great businessman. But was he a great artist? nyr.kr/o1VesB #SteveJobs

Maybe the most appropriate question to raise is not the question, “Do you have a Twitter handle?”    Maybe a better question is, “Are you using Twitter to search out different perspectives and discover different worlds?”