In the lifespan of new technologies fortunate enough to find the embrace of millions of  users, there comes a moment when the larger world finally starts to notice.

That moment may be, oh, about now for Twitter. I’m seeing stories and cultural references everywhere, it seems. Admittedly, many of them are  at least somewhat mocking, from people who can’t quite figure out the utility and interest of really short messages about one’s life, work or interests. Among the very recent sightings suggesting Twitter’s maturing cultural gestation:

1. •The Los Angeles Times has separate stories in today’s issue about movie stars tweeting while on set and the recent adoption by numerous pols of Twitter to communicate to constituents. There’s even some micro-outrage over micro-blogging from the floor while Obama spoke to a joint session of Congress. One take-out quote from U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) has her clarifying her tweet timing to followers. After her mom upbraided her for rudeness, McCaskill tweeted that she only had written on Twitter “bfor, at very beginning, & after speech. I wanted to listen.”
   

2. •Even John McCain is getting on the Twitter bandwagon after confessing last year that he had little clue about using the Internet in general. Now, his press rep boasts he has 122,000 followers, the most of anyone in Congress.
   

3. •My esteemed pal Eric Garcetti, the LA City Council president, has rolled out a suite of Web 2.0 services, including regular tweets, in support of his re-election campaign (don’t forget to vote today). He’s using the service to talk as well about more prosaic and office-related issues, such as traffic problems or crime issues in various parts of the district. This can be much more engaging, relevant and immediate for constituents than the endless, and rather vacuous, newsletters that often arrive in mailboxes from some officeholders.
   

4. •Last Thursday, the Times had a story on Web 2.0-fueled “anti-stimulus tea parties,” where people upset about the spending and tax measures in the recovery package are communicating their opinions loudly and widely.
   

5. •Doonesbury has a whole series of amusing bits on goofball TV correspondent Roland Hedley’s efforts to keep up with the Rick Sanchezes of the microblogging newser world.
   

6. •The Daily Show had a segment last night called “Old Man Jon Stewart Shakes His Fist at...Twitter,” where he indeed harrumphed entertainingly about the technology, and its use by politicians.
   

7. •The San Jose Mercury-News’ wonderful Good Morning Silicon Valley tech-news blast (subscribe at www.SiliconValley.com) includes some thoughts on whither Twitter this week, inspired by BusinessWeek reports on Facebook’s efforts to buy the service last fall. The deal fell through when Facebook couldn’t figure out how to convincingly value its own shares, which were to be the main currency in the proposed $500 million deal. Given that neither company has figured out how to fully monetize their popular services (and no one else can figure out how to value even real-world assets in this collapsing economy), it’s perhaps unsurprising that no deal happened.
   

8. •My neo-Luddite 66-year-old father asked me about Twitter this weekend, after I mentioned I’ve been exploring the service a lot lately, for mostly business-oriented purposes (user name is davidbloom). He went onto www.twitter.com, signed up for an account and read my stuff. then he got buried with “all kinds of communications through Twitter from people I don't know,” and promptly closed his account. But still...
   

And so it continues for Twitter more broadly. It’s starting to take off, even as people still don’t know what to make of it.

I’m of the opinion that when Twitter started, people thought of it as simply a shorter way to write a blog about nothing much of consequence, an opportunity to natter and nitpick. It’s still that for some folks. But there’s something else going on here, something much more interesting, a transformation of understanding that this is a different medium, again, with new implications for creators, reader/followers and others.

Already, Twitter has spawned a vibrant ecosphere of related tools that radically expand its usability: organizing follows into groups, tapping into trends, routinely searching for specific keywords, even auto-tweeting (which seems wrong but there you go).

There’s tons of coverage in the specialist tech and PR press about how to use this stuff for business and politics. Indeed, I think that’s where this can be extraordinarily powerful when used intelligently. Just today, I ran across a useful piece through PC World that lays out important basics in using Twitter for business.

Some of that story’s key points include:

1. •Keep focused. Pick a topic area (your industry, for instance), and write about that. Don’t skip all over the place, or you’ll lose followers and be less pertinent and useful to the ones you do have.
   

2. •Have a take. Either provide useful, usable information, or opinion about someone else’s useful, usable information.
   

3. •Dive in. When you’re starting out, grab 100 accounts to follow, and swim a while in the data currents. This seems a bit overwhelming for beginners, but I understand the sentiment. You need to get an idea what the water is like and sticking just a toe in won’t tell you much.
   

4. •Be discriminating. This isn’t Facebook. You don’t have to follow everyone who follows you. Find the ones who actually write about the things of value to you (see the first suggestion above).
   

5. •This is all public. Google can find tweets, so remember your dulcet words will live on forever, or thereabouts. So be careful what you write about.
   

6. •Sarcasm is hard. As a corollary to the last item, if you thought adequately communicating sarcasm or even a little light irony was difficult in a blog, and it’s darned difficult, try doing it in 140 characters. Yikes.