When this paper's political editor quipped on the Late Debate programme on RTé on Thursday night that Willie O'Dea had the distinction of being the first minister tweeted out of office, the Twittersphere chuckled and the statement was re-tweeted (the act of sort of copying and pasting what someone has already said from your own Twitter account as a point of interest or agreement) with abandon. The reason the statement was funny was because it was slightly more than half true. Willie O'Dea's fate-sealing began with a modern-day version of the butterfly effect. If a senator somewhere on the internet tweets, will a minister somewhere in government fall less than 24 hours later?

It's a strange thing that politicians tend to fall on daggers rather than swords. It's the small things with big momentum that lead to downfalls. A president can face impeachment for a blow job, but not for an illegal war that kills hundreds of thousands. It's all about the momentum of the events. While it's obvious that O'Dea's original crime of shooting his mouth off in a dangerous manner was extremely serious, and completely foolish, he could have got away with it if it wasn't for those pesky tweets.

When Dan Boyle tweeted, "As regards to Minister O'Dea I don't have confidence in him. His situation is compromised. Probably be a few chapters in this story yet" he probably didn't realise the impact pressing 'send tweet' would have. But Twitter is a strange beast and its impact lies in the speed with which it can take off, like a steroid-pumped horse keen to gallop with or without its jockey. Dan Boyle of all people should know about the impact of new media and things 'going viral' considering he must have watched with some astonishment the ascent of his cousin the singer Susan Boyle.

Mixing Twitter with politicians creates unique benefits and problems. On the one hand it's a personal platform from where they can speak and interact with voters. On the other, sometimes the party line gets slightly forgotten about. Twitter is all about the individual; your thoughts, your opinion, what you're doing. As a result, people become one-man or one-woman news outlets if their information is decent and constant. But they can also make remarks that previously didn't have a forum. Would Boyle have said what he wrote in his tweet to a journalist or in a press release, one wonders?

Whereas most social networks like Bebo, Facebook or MySpace serve only to put you in contact with friends and acquaintances and construct some online version of yourself, Twitter is different. Even though social networking connects, it can be remarkably inward looking. One would think that Twitter is also a tool of the self-obsessed, given that its entire machinery is based on making frequent or not-so-frequent remarks up to 140 characters in length about what you're up to or thinking, but the magic of Twitter is conversation. It encourages rapid communication, spreading information faster than any other service online or offline. The first place the verdict of the Lillis trial broke? Twitter. Need a photo of a head shop just after the fire happened? Twitter. Need live reports from a Luas crash? Twitter.

Of course, many think it's not as reliable as an established news source because it's driven by individuals who don't have editors or lawyers looking over their shoulders, but reliability and trust is huge on Twitter. If you're some eejit who keeps crying wolf, you will be disregarded. If you prove yourself to be a reliable or popular source of information, you will flourish.

Last week, like every week, I used Twitter for a multitude of things. Asking if anyone had photographs of the second firebombed headshop (there was one in minutes), looking for advice on a new laptop, plugging my TV show, discussing Ronan O'Gara's reaction to Kevin Myers' article, following several interesting links to pieces on the Dubai assassination, organising a coffee date with a friend, looking for sympathy for my broken ankle, assessing a new track from a band, planning a trip to Texas, and just shooting the breeze. It's one giant multi-way conversation with whoever you want to interact with.

Others used it to monitor protests in Iran, speculate on the Oscars, topple Irish ministers, comment live on the Brit Awards, rant about the snow in Washington, share recipes, or complain about something only relevant to them. Of course, there's plenty of inane muck to trawl through, but saying Twitter is pointless because of useless content is like saying television is pointless because you have to sit through the Afternoon Show before you get to The Wire.

On Friday, Boyle tweeted, "it has been an interesting few days" to which blogger Twenty Major replied, "Say something about Cowen now please. Thank you."

You never know...

To follow me on Twitter: twitter.com/unamullally