The last time I hear the word twitter, I was five watching Bambi.

“Flower: [about two birds fluttering around] Well! What's the matter with them?
Friend Owl: Why, don't you know? They're twitterpated.
Flower, Bambi, Thumper: Twitterpated?
Friend Owl: Yes. Nearly everybody gets twitterpated in the springtime.”

Now YOU can get twitterpated here at the YearlyKos Convention. That’s right! Our social media volunteer and Web 2.0 guru Mark Smithivas explained Twitter, Wiffiti, SMS and Flickr to me.

We were standing in the main ballroom just after the labor lunch with Andy Stern and before (sigh) Ari Melber’s panel with MSM v. bloggers. (I’m all, “Mark, I know what SMS is; now what’s MSM?” Ha! It’s ‘mainstream media.’)

Anyhoo…there we were in intermission and those two huge screens on either side of the main stage were lighting up with tons of Twittering on one side and live SMS poll results on the other.

Somewhere out there, and in here, lots of you were texting short messages which appeared instantaneously in our ballroom. So too your opinions on hot topic poll questions.

To demonstrate how easy this all is, Mark quickly texted something and suddenly up on the big screen popped the message, “Hi Stephanie!” Bigger than life, like those wedding proposals at baseball games, there it was!

Well shut my mouth.

Other new media mavens were telling each other what sessions they were in (“I’m at Andy Stern”), what panelists were saying, and what they thought of some of the films from the Screening Series.

Called microblogging (not by me, who can barely pronounce Wiffiti), Twitter messages are limited to 140 characters. “You have to be very pithy,” Mark said.

You can create your own avatar and upload a tiny pic of yourself. And of course choose an original screenname. Mark is YK2007 so say hi to him!

What You Need to Know:

-Flickr Photos: Hurry up and post your Convention photos on Flickr! Click on the preceding link to see photos and get directions about how to post your own photos.

-Live Polls: You have but ten minutes to answer each new poll question. Decide!

-Messaging: See an oldie but goodie blog of mine for all the info--

-Pick Poll Questions!: Email Mark your ideas for poll questions at sms@yearlykosconvention.org.

Geez, wouldn’t this technology be awesome in a bar or club setting? Why, honey chile, Boston-based LocaModa’s already thought of that! Keep watching for this super fun tech to pop up at watering holes across the country.

 YKC 2007