The observer, observed

Natural­ists led us on the trek, which wound through woods, weeds and water, and listed with pencil and paper va­rious species of butterflies they spotted to help gauge environmen­tal health at the PPL Services Corp. Brunner Island power plant in Manchester Township.

Meanwhile, Kuehnel had stopped, juggled his armory of camera equipment and texted away on his BlackBerry Storm.

He was on Twitter -- posting images and messages about the as­signment while we did the assign­ment.

Our tour guides found this fasci­nating.

A couple days later, I covered a social networking seminar led by Kim Walsh, aka PRGuruKim on Twitter, president of Inside Out Creative in York.

She talked of the pros and cons, etiquette and effectiveness of in­stant communication in places like "Twitterland."

That conjured in me Kuehnel's techno-network-gadget skills. Here he was, demonstrating exactly what Walsh was advocating.

I've worked with Kuehnel for many years. He has a way of break­ing down, explaining complicated stuff in an easy way.
• • •
In my so-yesterday-kind-of-way, I e-mailed Kuehnel to get his take on Twitter.

"You can text with one other person or the world. It isn't regulat­ed by phone (text) charges, but people have to be on it," he e-mailed back.

Kuehnel, 47, a photographer for the York Daily Record since 1983, uses Twitter as a personal observ­ation and work promotion. His postings publicize his blog and videos, he said.

"Anything that might lead people into something, make them stop for a moment and think," he said. "It's something new and inter­esting. It's a very low time input . . .gives people a real-time personal window on your soul they don't get with edited copy. I think the world craves real and now, mistakes, aberrations and all."

There was a time, not so long ago, when Kuehnel and I would be in the middle of an assignment -- a story that wouldn't appear in the paper until the next morning -- while the TV folks arrived in their air-conditioned vans, with their big satellite towers, set up tripods and broadcast news live. Of course, our work was and remains more in­depth. But the anchor guy got to deliver the message first.
• • •
Technology changed all that. At an assignment Wednesday, Kuehnel photographed a TV crew as they prepared to deliver the noon news. At that point, the story was pretty much over.

His photo and the following description of the scene ap­peared on Twitter instantly, and the TV guys became the news: "Going (live) on TV doesn't necessarily mean anything is going on . . . (it's) just noon," Kuehnel wrote.

The bottom line is, while the ability to send instant in­formation is out there for all, it's the integrity of the news that matters.

Some things never change.

Teresa McMinn is a correspon­dent for the York Daily Record/Sunday News. Reach her by e-mailing teresamcminn@mac.com.

Also see: I get Twitter ( greenmesh 7/09)