Salem’s grand poohbah of Twitter is Rob McGuire, a self-proclaimed “Expert. Guru. Ninja. Idiot.”

He’s a web developer who has attracted an impressive 23,255 followers (at SM deadline) of his regular tweets on Twitter, a web application that is quickly replacing Facebook and other social networking applications by allowing users to generate their own, quick shouts of content to an unlimited audience.

In the 15 months that he’s been on Twitter, Mr. McGuire he has posted 4,219 individual tweets – instant messages sent out to anyone in the world. And while the actual top Tweeter ranking can change daily, McGuire has consistently placed in the #1 spot for the past five months.

In turn, he follows the posts and ramblings of about 22,000 people every day.

“Keeping up with that many people isn't realistic, McGuire says. Once I passed the 5,000 people line it started getting crazy.”

Still don’t get Twitter? Feel like Tweetle-Dumb?

Well, get this: Twitter is where the conversations are happening. When Michael Jackson died, many people found out on Twitter. When Sarah Palin resigned as governor of Alaska, it hit the Twittersphere before most of the major news sites could post stories. And when Iran’s government cracked down on its citizen’s peaceful protests, Twitter was where those citizens told their stories.

People “tweet” – or post single messages of 140 characters or less that anybody in the world can read – for a variety of legitimate reasons. Some use it as a way to build and market their individual brands and communicate constantly with existing and potential customers.

“For freelancers, it can be a great way to pick up some work,” says McGuire, who estimates that half of his clients are now coming directly from Twitter interaction.

Others simply use it like a giant shouting room where they can start conversations with anybody about anything. Even more look at it like a giant show-and-tell where individuals can direct national and international conversations by posting links to other web content. The less ambitious use it like a personal diary charting their daily narratives, as mundane as they may seem.

Mainstream media may not take Twitter seriously – jokes about the application abound and tend devalue its importance as a tool.

But as the Internet did ten years ago, Twitter is quickly reconfiguring our ideas of what information and stories people find interesting and valuable.

Salem’s Top Tweeps get it. Most of them are individuals who wouldn’t otherwise measure into national, regional or even local media, but who have found an outlet for their voices – and interested followers of their stories – online.

It isn’t difficult to figure out why Rob McGuire is Salem’s most sought-after tweeter. He’s an Internet savant whose frequent tweets and quick interactions show his penchant for near constant IT troubleshooting.

“I have met some incredible people that I would have otherwise not,” McGuire says. “I have made friends, business associates and picked up new clients as well through Twitter.”

Like many of Salem’s Top Tweeps, McGuire doesn’t tweet regularly about Salem – his reach is national. But he does post the occasional strange sighting or great restaurant experience to his followers. He also has a column on his Tweet Deck, an application used to organize Twitter messages, devoted to people in Salem and Portland.

A lot of Salem’s Top Tweeps are similarly connected to the IT field, but we at Salem Monthly don’t think that necessarily makes them the most interesting birds in the flock. So we’ve picked 10 Tweeps from the top 50 in Salem who have something to say – and who are saying it, tweetastically, all day long.

We’ve deliberately left off some major top tweeters associated with public relations efforts such as Travel Oregon, Travel Salem, and Oregon State Parks, all of which have excellent and much-followed Twitter presences, so that we could include more individuals in this list.

These Salemites are proof that single chirps can be heard amid the louder honking and that Salem is home to some amazing personal journeys.

For the rest of the Mid-Valley's top tweeter's download the .pdf for their info cards.