The Tweet Heard ‘Round the World.

The day Michael Jackson died, it was a message on the social messaging service, Twitter, above, from TMZ head Harvey Levin that started the massive cascade of fear, grief, reminiscence, and adoration that ultimately swept the globe. Levin’s tweet, as Twitter messages are called, was a mere 77 characters in length, just a bit more than half the service’s maximum, 140 characters-per-message capacity. Rarely does such a small amount of text have such an immense, and rapid, effect.

Yet, whether in the death of a celebrity, or an uprising in a Middle eastern country—Twitter has been central, in terms of getting news out of that land, after their disrupted elections—the technology is making itself felt. In her new volume, The Twitter Book, co-written with O’Reilly Media founder Tim O’Reilly, Sarah Milstein talks about what Twitter is, how to get on it, and how to make it work for you. It’s a convenient to carry, easily-read book, just right for the neophyte, but with enough substance for power-users. Indeed, as the 21st person on the network—her boyfriend was an engineer with the young company—and a well-know consultant and author, Milstein definitely knows her stuff…and her Twitter.

Sarah Miltein is the guest today on my WBAI-NY / 99.5 FM radio show, NONFICTION, this afternoon, Friday, July 3rd, at 2 pm ET.

You can hear her ideas by tuning in at 2 pm. If you’re outside of the New York tri-state, check out our stream on the web. If you miss the live show, dig into our archives for up to 90 days after broadcast.