You are really important.

Yes, you are awesome. Brilliant, a genius, a poet for the ages. Every thought you have is so original, so witty and interesting and relevant that it should probably be shared with the rest of the world.

This is why you need Twitter.

Twitter is an online service for the narcissists, the self-important philosophers and the news-obsessed among us. It’s the voice of the people, it’s a way to keep in touch. It’s … well, it’s Twitter. It’s part blog, part instant message, part Facebook-style networking service.

I’m not really sure what it is.

According to Twitter user Josh Brzeszkiewicz, a senior in the College of Arts & Sciences, Twitter “allows people to connect and share information in really unique ways.”

Twitter invites users around the world to answer one simple question: “What are you doing?” This is similar to Facebook’s status feature, although without the grammar stipulations (Facebook status updates are in the third person and start with the user’s name, as in “Becky is eating smelly sweatsocks”). Really, a Twitter update — or tweet, as they’re called by those in the know — can be anything from an interesting Web page link to the user’s most recent random thought to an actual answer to that eternal question: “What are you doing?”

It’s portable, too. Twitter can be updated from the user’s phone or from the Web site itself, and there are external services that help to make this whole process easier. This has made it incredibly easy for people across the world to share anything they want.

The problem with the Internet — well, one of the problems, anyway — is that it is open to anyone. Anyone who wants to can start a blog, purchase a domain name or join discussion forums, usually at no cost. Some of these blog writers and Web site creators have legitimate cultural, social or political commentary to share with readers.

Some, on the other hand … don’t. The Internet is littered with users who one day realized Hey! I can have a Web site, too! And on it I can share the lives of my 16 cats. The details of which, of course, probably aren’t that interesting — to normal, sane people anyway.

The same can be said of Twitter. People can set up Twitter accounts to share their every moment, of course, but it doesn’t end there. There are Twitter accounts for dogs (“SQUIRREL!”) and cats (“I hate everything and will now go hide under your bed only to jump out and bite the ankles of whoever walks past next”). There are Twitter accounts set up for fictional characters (like Darth Vader) and accounts that may or may not be updated by celebrities. You want to set up an account and tweet as Dr. McDreamy from ABC’s Grey’s Anatomy? Go ahead. The world is your oyster.

Most Twitter users, though, seem to think that there are people out there who actually care about their (usually rather mundane) lives. And apparently … there are. I am the proud owner of a new Twitter account, and while I’m still trying to figure out exactly how it all works and why I should care, I get emails frequently telling me that “so-and-so is now following me on Twitter.” Many of these people are fellow journalists or people I know. But some of them are total strangers — which is kind of creepy and weird, if you think about it.

Twitter is a unique service in that it’s (usually) not private enough that you wouldn’t want random strangers reading updates. Facebook and MySpace profiles are much more personal, but a Twitter profile is limited to the user’s name, location and a brief bio, which is limited to 160 characters. The user’s tweets are intended to be used to give the Twitter community a sense of personality.

There are Twitter users who update their accounts several times daily, to have conversations with their friends and to update every aspect of their lives. According to Brzeszkiewicz, “I use Twitter somewhat erratically. Sometimes I tweet multiple times a day, and sometimes it’ll be days between me tweeting anything.”

So why use Twitter? As Brzeszkiewicz puts it, “I like Twitter because I don’t feel like I have enough to say to write a full blog, yet I still like to put a thought or two online for people to read every so often.”

And that seems to be the trend. As the Internet expands and more and more social Web sites are developed, we are becoming more and more obsessed with sharing information about ourselves. The Internet now offers many ways to keep the rest of the world updated as to our every thought. It’s turning us into a pretty narcissistic culture, and that could be a problem. As long as you continue to remember, though, that not every thought is worthy of universal recognition, I think you’ll be OK.

Just … stop pretending you’re Patrick Dempsey, alright?

Follow Becky on Twitter at @starringbecky.