At Twitter Lights, we shine a light on the most popular twitter feeds out there.

Wanna know which celebrity tweets are talked about or seen the most (you won’t believe which twit is taking up spot #2)? Or which prom dresses are hot this spring? How about music tweets (hint: the somewhat controversial-as-of-late John Mayer’s is on the list, but his positioning is the most intriguing aspect)? Aside from the finer arts, we’ll also take a look at the most popular social media, entrepreneur and news twitter feeds as well. You’d be particularly surprised to see who’s hunting for the best auto loan refinance terms, or the progress of soybean futures on the common market. Or maybe you wouldn’t…

For now, on this page, we thought we’d explain some of the fundamentals of Twitter, just in case you’ve been living underneath a rock for the past few years. Now that you’ve finished hibernating, I’d like to introduce you to a world of wonder filled with such innovation as talking pictures, the telephone, and the man of the hour, Twitter.

Kill the lights…

WHAT EXACTLY IS TWITTER?

Created in 2006 by Jack Dorsey, Twitter is a hugely popular social / information networking and microblogging service that allows users to send and read short messages of up to 140 characters, hence its microblogging appellation. Twitter is basically the SMS of the internet, so it’s not surprising to know that the short messages posted, known as “tweets”, can be sent and received via the Twitter website, external applications and SMS. Twitters feeds can be followed by fans and supporters.

WHY A 140 CHARACTER LIMIT?

To make it compatible with SMS services, silly. One of the main selling (actually, it’s a free service) points for Twitter is that it lends itself to quick flashes of information and blurbs, giving readers a snapshot of what’s going on in people’s lives and events that they care about. One upside for the character limit is that it forces posters to get creative with their tweets – you’re likely to find the same kind of shorthand notation on Twitter as you would find in SMS messages. Short and sweet, baby.