Cast your mind back to a simpler, sepia-tinted era. A time when communication was straightforward, your heroes seemed to live in some unreachable Ivory Tower and tweeting was something the birds did to welcome in the dawn. Yep, in human terms 2005 might only have been six short years ago, but in technological terms it now seems as quaint and far-removed as the 18th century, when the humble, hand-written letter, and even (whisper it) actually speaking to each other, were the ways people communicated.

Today mediums like Twitter and Facebook have completely revolutionized the way people in the world pass on information, and even chat, to each other. Where once, we began the morning with a cheery 'morning all' over the neighbor's fence, today we start the day by pinging off a breakfast update to our 'followers' on Twitter. It's a tool of almost unimaginable communicative power -- and unsurprisingly, the forward-thinking shred community has embraced it with open arms.

Almost all of snowboarding's heavy-hitters are on Twitter, and for most of us it can be a fascinating window into the realities of life as a pro rider. True, as with the network of twitterers at large it can take time to work out whose updates are worth following and whose will have you reaching for the electronic snooze button. That's why we've done the hard work for you, by scanning the electronic airwaves to bring you the ten essential snowboarding tweeters to follow. Launch Gallery »