Mashable claims that all Twitter-ers fall into one of two categories.

1. You drink the "noob hatorade" and don't tell anyone about it for fear it will become so popular (think MySpace, Facebook).

2. You try your damndest to get everyone you know on there.

I suppose I'm a part of both. Granted I've only been Tweeting since Fall 2007, so I can't really claim OG status on that one, but I have been known to urge my friends to get on Twitter. It's wildly popular with my colleagues, and it's more fun to update than any other social network. Something about the simplicity and instant gratification.

So here are Mashable's 7 Steps to Getting Your Mom on Twitter.

1. Find them some valuable people to follow

Politicians - @BarackObama, @JohnMcCain2008, @HillaryClinton, @RonPaul2008 (I used to follow him), @JohnEdwards.
Pop Culture - @MCHammer (I'm sure your Mom will be all over that), @RSS_PerezHilton
Internet Celebs - @iJustine, @kevinrose (is the Digg founder considered an internet celeb?)

You get the point.

2. Get them a desktop or mobile app

This is important, because using Twitter.com to tweet, respond and message is downright painful. Point them to a list of cellphone Twitter apps or other Twitter tools. Once they have an app that makes it as easy as instant messaging, it’ll stick.

3. Respond to their Tweets

Twitter is going to get really boring, really fast if no one is responding to them. I mean really, if a tweet falls in the Twitterverse and nobody hears it, does it make a tweet? Again, make it look and feel like an instant messenger. Once they make their own friends, they won’t be so dependent on your responses.

One way to force them onto Twitter is to tell them that you can’t talk on IM but if they want to tweet you during the day, that’ll be easier for you. Trickery always works.

4. Introduce them to Twitter Lingo

Tweet – A tweet is a message of 140 characters or less, sent through Twitter.

@ - Use this symbol before the name of the person you want to respond to. When you do, the person you’re sending it to will see it as a reply them instead of just a regular tweet in their feed.

Hashtag – A predetermined phrase that starts with a # sign that Twitterers use to categorize tweets. When someone want to talk to a particular group of people, they’ll use the hashtag after their message. Everyone else will still get the message, but anyone who searches that hashtag later on will only follow the designated tweets.

TweetUp – A gathering of Twitter users; normally a luncheon or a casual meetup. Stormhoek has infamously contributed wine to these types of gatherings.

Fail Whale – The Fail Whale is the symbol of twitter down-time. When twitter is down, the page displays a whale being carried by birds. Common phrases referring to the whale include “whale sighting” and “launch your harpoons”.

DM – A DM is a direct message sent from one Twitter user to the next. Only the recipient and the DMer can see this message, as opposed to the rest of the Twitterverse.

Twitterverse – The universe of Twitter users; everyone who “tweets.”

Plurk – the service that Twitter users swear they are switching to every time there is a whale sighting.

FWIW – A common acronym meaning, “for what it’s worth.” Hey you’ve got 140 characters to talk, and I’m surprised Twitter users haven’t come up with an entire tweet made of acronyms.

For the rest of the list check out Mashable.

And follow me - @theoneinpink, of COURSE!