I was talking to someone from another Alumni Association (I won’t say who it was because it doesn’t matter) who said he didn’t understand Twitter. Someone tried to explain it to him and it just wasn’t clicking. I was a little surprised that a marketing professional couldn’t grasp how interesting Twitter (and by extension all of social media) could be.

And then, last week, I was watching Mad Men (Addicted! The best part is the pitch. Design Observer really lays out how the show is fantasy for anyone creative who had to pitch work to a client.) and I realized that back then, they couldn’t quite see how TV would change everything. They were great at what they did, but they couldn’t always see the potential of this strange new medium.

Which is where we are today. Sooooo many new tools and ideas coming down the pipe and no one’s really got a hold of all of them. It seems like there’s a new thing to play with every day (actually, there’s a new thing to play with every hour, if you keep your eyes on Mashable these days) and these new things don’t always do a great job of explaining themselves very well.

In the interest of education, I give you: Twitter in Plain English.

(The Common Craft folks do a great job explaining all sorts of things in Plain English on their website.)

Oh, and if you want to follow Bucky Badger’s Twitters (or join his Facebook group or get LinkedIn with the WAA) here’s how to do it.