Who wouldn’t want their life brightened daily by up to a dozen fresh sentences from the genius that is Stephen Fry courtesy of those lovely people at Twitter?

I first contemplated mixing with the Twitterati after the terrorist attacks in India in November because I’d read how Twitter was used to break the first news of the attacks.

For anyone unfamiliar with Twitter, it allows users 140 characters to post what they are doing. Like a Facebook status update.

Users can choose to follow people or websites and create their own real-time newsfeeds. You can also search subjects to find out who is talking about what.

I didn’t find Twitter particularly easy to use on my first attempt, decided Twitter ye not because life was too short and it wasn’t until I read how friends used Twitter to co-ordinate a mountain rescue earlier this month that I decided to have another go.

I’d recommend Twitter because it allows me to do my job better by finding out more quickly who’s breaking what news, when and to whom.

I also get to mix with Stephen Fry (315,603 followers) and other Twitterati including John Prescott (1,904 followers), Alastair Campbell (3,086 followers) and Jonathan Ross (152,931 followers).

I’ve only been tweeting for less than a fortnight and have a rather more modest 15 followers including my sister, friends, websites and at least 1 person of whom I’ve never heard.

My only remaining Twitter reservation was perhaps best expressed in a fantastic Samantha Bee/Jon Stewart sketch I can’t find on YouTube for your delight on More 4′s amazing The Daily Show: how can you really be doing what you’re Twittering about doing?

And how does it help you?

You can follow what the rather lovely Healthcare Republic team is up to. Or even hear my tweets at NeilDurham.