Twitter, the social networking service that began the status update revolution — in just 140 characters or less — turned four on Sunday.

And though founder Jack Dorsey perhaps didn’t conceive his microblogging milieu would achieve such mainstream success since it 2006 birth, users the world over are addicted.

Twitter has become a part of the post-modern techie’s everyday life, giving him or her the ability to share thoughts with an audience in an instant.

It’s also a space wherein one can learn of news events and further erases the lines of ‘us’ and ‘them’ since users may opt to follow any and everyone, including their favourite celebrities.

Today’s celeb without a Twitter account, to be quite honest, is seen as an anomaly. The tweet clock recently reached the 10-billion-tweet mark, and about 50 million tweets are posted every day.

That Twitter has become a part of the lexicon is evidenced by the frequent use of words like ‘tweetheart’, which describes a love interest with whom the medium is used to communicate; ‘tweet’, to post a writing on Twitter; an ‘attwacker’, someone who verbally assaults another on Twitter or a Twictionary, the online oases where all these words can be found.

It’s ubiquity, in just four years, makes it arguably borderline annoying; however, it’s that always-there-charm that makes it work. Simply put, it’s accessible.

It’s true that many BlackBerry or iPhone users have access to their Twitter through an app.

“I just started getting into this tweet thing,” dancehall darling Ce’Cile shares at Stone Love HQ Monday last during the East Japanese 5th Anniversary celebrations, who in-between tweets talks to Thursday Tech. “It’s absolutely addictive.”

“I love the fact that it affords quicker access than Facebook and MySpace, plus I feel like my fans can keep up with me minute-by-minute… it just feels more real,” Ce’Cile adds.

The addiction, translated as people’s current desire to stay in touch and on top of things, has led other social networks like Facebook and FriendFeed to offer status updates.

Though the website and its service continues to see millions of users each day, there’s still relatively little advertising visibility. The last the website has published is that viewers would see the Twitter advertising platform at the end of February. To date, nothing.

But regardless of Twitter’s lagging plans, the service in just four years has been an incredible asset not only in terms of breaking news — facilitating greater community journalism– but for the less tech-savvy individual just looking for a simpler way to stay cool.

Tweeting 101

Feeling left out of the newest wave in microblogging? Here’s how to log on to the ‘Twitter-sphere’ in no time.

Step 1

In order to join in on the conversation you will need to go to twitter.com/signup to create your account.

Step 2

Go ahead and follow the Twitter prompts. Enter your first and last name. Make sure it is your real name. Pick a user name and password, making sure your user name is unique to Twitter and contains no special characters. Enter your email address and fill out the CAPTCHA. Please note that you can only have one Twitter name per email account. Then click “Create my account”.

Step 3

Success!! Now that you have a Twitter account be sure to check and see whom else you know is part of the ‘Twitter-sphere’. Twitter will prompt you after you create an account to enter your email address password. This allows Twitter to check for you to see if you know anyone on Twitter. There are, lots of celebrities and media networks are on Twitter. Be sure to add some of them as well for great bursts of reading material.

Step 4

Finally, it’s time to tweet. Tell the world what you are doing in 140 characters or less by entering your status at the website (twitter.com) after you are logged in. Before you know it, you will have thousands of tweets cataloguing your days.

‘Twilebrities’

Twitter’s all about celebrities who make no bones about keeping their fans up to speed with life in Hollywood… here’s a look!

More than 3 million followers

Ashton Kutcher

Britney Spears

Ellen DeGeneres

More than 2.5 million followers

Barack Obama

Ryan Seacrest

Oprah Winfrey

Shaquille O’Neal

More than 2 million followers

Demi Moore

Lance Armstrong

Jimmy Fallon

More than 1.5 million followers

Al Gore

Martha Stewart

MC Hammer

Lady GaGa

More than 1 million followers

Jack Welch

Newt Gingrich

Soleil Moon Frye

Arnold Schwarzeneger

Dr Sanjay Gupta

Paris Hilton