I've installed a new display at Capitol Hill in Second Life that streams Twitter tweets about candidates.  The tweets float above columns, and are refreshed every minute with a search for Obama, Biden, McCain or Palin. You can also talk to the display to get the latest tweets about an individual candidate. Touch a column, and you get the original post on Twitter that you can use to follow links, etc.

The Capitol Hill region has been one of a number of gathering places in Second Life during the debates. Though a lot of avatars tend to gather at party headquarters, Capitol Hill draws those wanting more of a cross-party discussion.

 As for me, joining the discussion in Second Life, with an eye on the Twitter election channel, and another eye on my TV, makes my head explode.

Couric:

What newspapers do you read?

Palin:

Oh, Katie, that’s such a quaint old-timey question – news “papers” - that’s like asking me what “records” I listen to or what “evening news show” I watch.

Well, I do still get the newspaper from my hometown of Wasilla every week – it’s good to stay connected to my roots, to see what is happening at the community level, and to support the small town business.

And I read the Anchorage Daily News – I am still the Governor of Alaska, after all. Most days I read it online, but I get the Sunday edition delivered to my house because my kids (and Todd!) like to read the Sunday funnies the old-fashioned way.

But that’s about as much “paper” as I’m willing to consume just to get the news.

Of course I have news sources beyond the Alaskan border, Katie. If you were to hack into my Google Reader account (please don’t!) you’d see I have it set up with many feeds, not just from traditional “newspaper” sites, but from a variety of sources with a variety of outlooks, including cable news sites and the best of the blogs. That way I can scan the headlines, read the articles, easily see how the same story is reported from different points of view, and form my own opinions.

And, like many Americans, I have my Google Alerts set up to bring me news on specific topics, and I’m constantly updating it with topics that deserve my attention and consideration as a candidate for Vice President. I don’t know how I managed without that one!

So, how about you, Katie. What "newspapers" do you read?

When explaining the power of microblogging (e.g. Twitter) to others, it helps to share my own occasional "Aha!" moments.

On Sunday, Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced that an economic stabilization bill had been written and was available at financialservices.house.gov. I tried going there for about 10 minutes, but the servers were swamped.

So I went to Twitter search, and merely searched for "bill". The immediate results included several comments about the bill, and at least two links to download it from non-swamped servers. This tells me a couple things: I trusted in the critical mass of contributions to Twitter that I would find what I wanted - and sure enough, it was there. It also shows the power of searching the immediate NOW.

A Google search for "bill" includes a 5-hour old news link, imdb's of movies like "Bill" and "Kill Bill" and wikipedia entries on Bill Gates and Bill Clinton. But for the moment I was searching for "bill" on Twitter, there was only one "bill" that mattered most.

This is how Twitter brings together the massive amounts of information being fed it NOW with what I am searching for NOW. This is just one way Twitter works, if you know how to use it.