I love Twitter. In fact, I have two personal twitter accounts ... anneeasterling and WDWtips ...  and I tweet for my job at internet_safety.

But Twitter takes some getting used to. What is Twitter exactly? Check out this video Twitter in Plain English from the really smart folks at Common Craft:

So how do you get started? Start by creating an account. Go to the Twitter sign up page. Then fill it out:

1. Enter your real name.
2. Pick a username ... it might be your real name or something that reflects your personality or interests. It's possible to change it later, but you'll lose all your followers, so pick wisely.
3. Pick a password. (Be sure to write down your username and password.)
4. Enter your real email address.
5. Prove that you're a real person by filling in the letters or numbers from the image.
6. And click "Create my account."

Next you'll see a page where you can find people you already know. Twitter can check your Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo, AOL or Hotmail accounts to see if any email addresses match existing Twitter accounts. If you let Twitter see your email contacts, you'll then have the option of following those who have Twitter accounts. If you prefer, just skip this step (look for the "Skip this step" link at the bottom of the page).

On the next page (it's the last one, I promise), you'll see a list of popular Twitterers. If you want to follow them, you don't need to do anything. If you don't uncheck the ones you want to skip. Then... click FINISH and you're officially "on Twitter."

Notice the page that you're on... create a bookmark so you can come return easily. Enter your first twitter update... Try to be more creative than just saying "Wow, I can't believe I'm really on Twitter."

The next time you login, enter your username and password. If you check "Remember me," you'll be automatically logged in the next time you go to Twitter. That makes it easier to follow people quickly when you click on a "follow me" link anywhere on the web.

There are many, many other things you could learn about Twitter. I'm stopping here to keep things simple for newbies. Got a specific question? Leave a comment, and I'll make that my next Twitter topic.