For those who hadn't noticed, King County Executive Ron Sims has embraced the hot social networking tool, Twitter, in a big way.

Twitter lets users stay connected by sending and receiving "tweets" -- text messages of no more than 140 characters. Some describe it as micro-blogging. The messages can be read on computers or mobile devices like the iPhone by users who subscribe to the free service.

Sims has been tap-tap-tapping away with daily Twitter messages to his audience. Some of his chatter offers a peek into substantive county business (as substantive as 140 characters allows, anyway). For example, Sims commented yesterday on a "big debate" among his staff on whether to push a ban on pit bulls. A few weeks ago, he announced an increase in next year's expected budget shortfall via Twitter.

Other Sims "tweets" are more, well, personal. Last Friday, declared he was going to spend time in his garden, noting: "The sun should help me get over my head cold."

And this morning, Sims announced:

"Heading to my orthodontist to tighten my braces. I'm on KUOW's Weekday at 10 am."

Sims' spokeswoman, Carolyn Duncan said Sims has taken to Twitter because "he really feels this is connecting with an audience that normally isn't paying attention to government."

You can follow Sims' tweets here.