Everyone and their mother is getting on Twitter. In droves. People are writing code which creates thousands of fake users which follow them, and serve only to artificially inflate their follower count. In this gigantic, ever-growing ocean of Twitter who are examples of folks who are NOT DOING IT WRONG? I have a couple shoutouts to give – because these organizations are doing GOOD and not just sponging up popularity. These are places to do business with – because they behave honorably.

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The line for invitations

UPDATE 7/25 – My photos from the exhibition: http://tinyurl.com/nrn55z

Okay, so it’s not so secret if I’m publishing it. But if you’d like to attend what promises to be the best Comic-Con party this year, pay attention to the following tweet from @importantdate:

Tea Party will be held at 338 7th ave, between J & K st. Invitations are required, and may be picked up at the same location, from 8-10 am

This will likely be a party for Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland starring Johnny Depp! So hurry on down there!

*UPDATE* (9AM)

I’m back from getting my invitation, and here’s what I found out. The “Tea Party” is actually an instance of the Alice in Wonderland Touring Exhibition, in which invitees get to see the “artistry and inspiration behind one of 2010’s most anticipated releases.”

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See more earthquake details at http://earthquake.usgs.gov/

I’m usually not awake at 7:35 AM on a Saturday, but today was an exception. While propped up reading a collection of humorous horror stories (”Blood Lite”) with Husband 1.0 snoozing beside me, I suddenly felt like our house had been lightly tapped by a semi. It lasted no more than two seconds.

“Did you feel that?” I said.

“Was that an earthquake?” my now-awake husband said.

My iPhone was in hand in a flash, I pulled up Tweetie, and there was the crowdsourced evidence: tweet after tweet that said “earthquake.”

Turns out our tiny temblor was a 4.0 centered out in the ocean just off the Channel Islands, about 23 miles west of San Diego, and 19 miles west-southwest of La Jolla. Details from the USGS are here.

From my informal Twitter survey, it was felt in downtown, Golden Hill, La Jolla, El Cajon and parts of Carmel Valley. Folks who reported they didn’t feel it were in Cardiff, Carlsbad and easterly parts of Del Mar.

I’m off to get some breakfast now, but here’s a topic for discussion: how come the news events we rely on Twitter to verify are always big, bad and widely felt?

When I opened an account on Twitter a little over a year ago, my husband seemed puzzled. He wondered why I’d want to read about other people’s mundane little details of life and who would want to read mine. He created his own account, probably convinced he’d never use it.

Lately, however, I can hardly keep him off the Twitter webpage. And I think I’ve discovered why: San Diego sports stars are starting to tweet.

Here’s a breakdown of who you can follow:

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A staple in San Diego morning Talk Radio, at least since Howard Stern was booted from our airwaves, is The Mikey Show. Well, on March 18th, 2009, The Mikey Show found the blogosphere’s beloved micro-blogging cult, Twitter, and they all joined.

• @MikeyShowMikey – Mikey
• @MikeyShowSky – Sky
• @MikeyShowAshlee – Ashlee
• @MikeyShowEddie – Eddie
• @MikeShowBRob – Boston Rob

Now, they’re still new, but I think us San Diegans can give them a warm welcome to Twitter and get them off to a good start. Perhaps they’ll get addicted. Let’s find out.

@mrtonylee of Marvel UK has his finger on the button

For those of you hoping to acquire lodging downtown (or anywhere remotely in the vicinity) hotel registration opens a few hours from now.  The online registration process has been upgraded this year, allowing users to que up for a hotel slot with priority given by time of visit.  For full details, including the official list of participating hotels, hit the ComicCon hotel site, located here.

Follow the joy of victory and agony of defeat on twitter search as people invariably tweet about their hotel luck (or lack thereof).

UPDATE: several twitter users reported that ComicCon’s new hotel booking service, TravelPlanners, crashed under the load two minutes into the rush. It’s back up again, but EXTREMELY slow from all accounts.

In ur timeline, posting ur newz

Metblogs recently extended its reach into its 57th city and the consciousness of San Diegans. Now San Diego Metblogs will be even easier to follow, as it has its own Twitter feed!

Are you in San Diego and have a Twitter account? Or maybe just miss San Diego and its perfect weather? (Yes, that’s a dig at you, East Coast.) Want to read local blog posts from 14 of the finest bloggers (more added every day) in America’s Finest City? Then just start following @SDMetblogs, my friend.

We’ll serve up local happenings, quirky observations, bargains, and fun things to do with a decidedly San Diego flavor. You know, like a fish taco. Okay, and some crazy-old-man-next-door-style rants. You know it will happen. Either way, you’ll get a tweet sent to your mobile phone or computer whenever there’s a new post to read.

So no more hanging around my front door demanding more blog posts, okay? Follow @SDMetblogs instead, and get offa my lawn!

Whether you call it real-time conversations or microblogging, Twitter is a tool that San Diego’s media are picking up and putting to use. You can follow individual reporters or on-air personalities in San Diego as well as subscribe to Twitter news feeds:

Media Tweeps
@dodgemedlin – San Diego Union-Tribune assistant news editor
@RickyWhy – San Diego Union-Tribune local government editor Ricky Young
@ninagarin – San Diego Union-Tribune ‘Street’ reporter Nina Garin
@jimtrageser – North County Times reporter
@drolland – San Diego CityBeat editor David Rolland
@ericwolff – San Diego CityBeat reporter Eric Wolff
@catherine739 – NBC 7/39 anchor Catherine Garcia
@carondg – San Diego Foodstuff blogger, freelance food, travel and tech writer Caron Golden
@lcaloh – KPBS convergence editor Leng Caloh
@culturelust – KPBS arts and culture producer Angela Carone
@tmack01 – KNSD 7/39 photographer
@helenchang – San Diego News Network business editor (launching in March)
@michellemowad – San Diego Business Journal real estate reporter Michelle Mowad
@Hula933 – 93.3 FM AJ’s Playhouse personality Hula Ramos

San Diego News Feeds on Twitter
@sdut – San Diego Union-Tribune
@utstreet – Union-Trib’s Street section
@sdbackyard – Union-Tribune’s SD Backyard community social media news site
@nctimes – North County Times
@sdcitybeat – San Diego City Beat
@kpbsnews – KPBS FM news
@nbcsandiego – NBC 7/39 News
@10news – KGTV 10 News
@sandiego6 – San Diego Channel 6
@SDSU_NewsTeam – San Diego State University news / media relations
@UCSDNews – UCSD news / media relations
@bizsandiego – BizSanDiego
@sdbloggers – SDBloggers.com

If you’ve got other local media or newsfeeds on Twitter to suggest, send them to @juliewright. And thanks in advance for any contributions.

San Diego tweeters take over Wine Cabana on 2/21/09 (Photo courtesy @jimmyweee)

The San Diego Tweetup’s February gathering set new attendance records last Saturday, as more than 200 Twitter aficionados converged on the Wine Cabana in Old Town. This was a significant jump over the first SD Tweetup, held in April 2008, when only about 30 attended.

The event, which is usually held monthly, had been sorely missed since its last large gathering in November at KPBS Studios. (No complaints here about the December SD Tweetup, as 25 of us were included in the audience of The Price is Right, and yours truly won a treadmill and $1000.) This time, there was no attendee cap – and tweeters from all over San Diego County turned out in force. We drank wine, played Rockband (courtesy of assistant organizer @DowntownRob), and tweeted the #sdtweetup hashtag all the way up to the #2 trending topic on Twitter for several hours.

Organizer Jenn Van Grove (@jbruin) did another bang-up job in finding a venue large enough for such a group, and sponsors willing to fund the good times. Much love to Network Velocity (@nvelocity) for sponsorship. See Jenn’s blog post for a comprehensive Twitter roll of attendees, as well as links to several Flickr sets of event photos.

Want to join us next time? Visit http://www.meetup.com/sdtweetup and get notified when the next SD Tweetup is scheduled!

All of the San Diego Metblog writers that I personally know, I met on Twitter. If you didn’t already know this, San Diego has a great, enthusiastic and powerful Twitter community.

Currently, the city is ranked 13th worldwide for its Tweeples’ activity.

The top Twitterers in this region are also some of the top in the world. Twitter Grader refers to them as San Diego’s ‘elite’ Twitterers. @marismith, for instance, is ranked #1 in this region and in the top 100 of all ranked users. 

Naturally, many of the people most active on Twitter are ’social media mavens,’ so I personally suggest that if you’re looking to keep your Twitterstream fresh, diverse, and relevant, be careful not to jump in by following only the top Twitterers. You’d be missing out on a lot.

Mix it up with great San Diego attractions and venues like @gaslampquarter or news media like @sdut. Or how about both with @sdtips which combines local travel tips, news and a lot more. Or journalists like @dodgemedlin who you can always count on to post topical and timely links.

Follow local Metblog authors like @juliewright (me), @thepegisin, @viss, @morrisato and more. Most of the authors include a link to their Twitter stream on their bios, so go check them out.

There are personalities to follow here too like @chriscantore who’s a fount of local music knowledge and as entertaining ever. Or @sddialedin if you’re looking for recommendations on the local music scene–in real-time, by the way, which often means 2 a.m. for her. If classic rock is more your bag, you can’t beat @sdradio for his encyclopedic knowledge.

If you’re a morning person and preternaturally perky, you’ll enjoy the good natured posts of @marismith (see link above), @sugarjones, and @lotusamy.

You can stay connected to the city of San Diego via @mayorsanders.

And if you’re interested in San Diego’s culinary community and what’s fresh, follow @carondg, @aliceqfoodie and @pinchmysalt.

I suggest you chase those food posts down with a beer post or two from @stonegreg of Stone Brewing and @beermolly.

If you’re interested in San Diego’s biotech industry, follow @sdbn.  And if you’re interested in the future and health of its fast food industry and leading spokesperson, follow @jackbox (who’s apparently in a coma but you can count on his staff to keep his account updated.)

It really helps to get out and meet your Tweeps in person, and for that, you need to follow @jbruin who organizes San Diego TweetUps like the one this Saturday night. http://www.meetup.com/sdtweetup/ (I wish I could go but I have a ‘thing’… I just love saying that.)

This list is just a start. I’ll try to share more links to local San Diego Tweeps in the future. And I encourage you to share your favorites by commenting below.