Digital Royalty is an digital and social media firm that works with several major league sports teams and individual athletes, as well as national brands. They are best known for the work they do with Shaquille O'Neal.

I met with Amy Martin, the founder of Digital Royalty, in Phoenix to talk about what led her to start this firm. As expected, we talk about their work with Shaq; one of the first celebrities, sports or otherwise, to use Twitter. We also talk about how major league sports organizations are handling the increasing use of social media tools like Twitter by athletes during games.

Follow Amy and her company at @DigitalRoyalty.

To coincide with his appearance at the 140 Characters Conference in LA, I moved this interview to the front of the queue. At Gnomedex, a yearly tech conference in Seattle, I interviewed Mark Horvath. Mark is travelling the country bringing the plight of the homeless to light with his project, Invisible People.

Mark's project has received a lot of publicity and he has been asked to speak at many conferences. I was fortunate to be able to talk with Mark about what led him to do this very personal project. I encourage everyone to follow Mark at @hardlynormal and his project at @invisiblepeople.

To coincide with his panel appearance at the 140 Characters Conference in LA, I moved this interview to the front of the queue. At the "other" Twitter conference in LA, 140: The Twitter Conference, I met up wih panelist Chris Hardwick. Chris Hardwick is a comedian, actor and host of the G4 show Web Soup.

I got to attend a taping of Web Soup while in LA and interviewed Chris after the show. From Chris we learn:

• What was the highlight of the comedy panel at 140: The Twitter Conference?
• What came first, the comedian or the nerd?
• Who are some of his early comedy influences?
• What was the first computer he owned?
• Jokes about Twitter bomb in the clubs.
• How is Twitter like Mad Men?
• How is Twitter like a freeway?
• What is his Twitter philosophy?

Between tapings of Web Soup, Chris is currently doing the "Nice Tweets Tour (of Comedy)" and has been using Twitter as its main promotional channel. If you aren't following Chris already, he is on Twitter at @nerdist.

I had heard of great things that NAKED Pizza was doing with social media and Twitter in particular. A take-out and delivery pizza restaurant, NAKED Pizza made the bold move of replacing the standard signage in front of their establishment with a new one that only lists their Twitter address as a means of contact.

On my trip around the nation I made a stop in New Orleans JUST to interview this forward-thinking company. NAKED Pizza makes, in their opinion, the world's healthiest pizza. After the interview I took a pizza for the road and would have to agree with their claim. NAKED Pizza has attracted the attention of major investors in their efforts to expand nationally.

Be on the lookout for their amazing pizza in your neighborhood soon. To keep up on their expansion and how they are much different than your regular pizza joint (probiotic and prebiotic dough, ingredients grown on-site, etc.) follow them on Twitter at @nakedpizza.

Daily Grommet sells interesting and unique products, with a new one featured each day. They define a Grommet as: ...a wonderful product still waiting in the wings, just ripe for discovery...it has great utility, or style, or invention. Or, very often it has all three.

I met with Jules Pieri and Jeanne Connon at Daily Grommet's headquarters outside Boston. They showcased several of their products (two of which I already owned and one that I use now). They also talked about how Twitter is being used to find new products to sell and feature.

We all had a lot of fun doing the interview. These are some great people, I urge you to check them out on Twitter at @dailygrommet.

Laura Fitton is co-author of the newly released book "Twitter For Dummies." Laura also runs Pistachio Consulting, a communications consultancy that is increasingly focusing on social media. In the interview Laura shares her one universal piece of advice for people on Twitter. This interview took place before the launch of her latest project, oneforty.com, a repository of applications and tools for Twitter.

Find Laura on Twitter at @pistachio and OneForty at @oneforty.

A house that tweets? How cool is that? I met with Peter Troast and Lisa Fahay of Energy Circle to find out how it works. The geek in me really got a kick out of seeing how they monitor their energy usage in their home and tweet out their findings.

Follow Energy Circle on Twitter at @energycircle and the house that tweets at @energycirclekw.

I met up with Paul Rainer of I Prick U Bodyworks, a body piercing, modification & jewelry company with locations in Staten Island & Toronto. Paul has grown a large following on Twitter by connecting to people with an interest the type of work he does and by showcasing that work.

Paul has been in business for close to ten years and specializes in scalpelling and microdermal implants. If you are into this type of body modification you should definitely check him out on Twitter at @ipricku.

Josh Charles wrote a song, "Healing Time", to raise awareness about the healing that is taking place in New Orleans after the destruction caused by Hurricane Katrina. Josh partnered with Preservation Resource Center of New Orleans (PRCNO) to help raise money for their efforts to build green homes and businesses in New Orleans.

All proceeds from the sale of this song on iTunes and Amazon go to PRCNO. Josh is trying to raise $1 million dollars by September 29.

Follow Josh in his efforts at @joshcharles. Buy the song on iTunes or Amazon by visiting Josh's website.

David Rostan, Founder of Social Yell, explains how his site allows consumers to rate the social responsibility of companies. The site allows for two-way conversations between users and the companies they rate. They use Twitter to illicit requests for features and get feedback on how they are doing. They are also seeking out conversations about companies' social responsibility on Twitter and encouraging them to share their thoughts and feelings using Social Yell.

Social Yell is on Twitter at @socialyell and on the web at socialyell.com.