Kanye West has finally been bitten by the Twitter bug. Fresh off his visit to Facebook’s offices, the rapper has signed up for the competing social networking service.

Mr. West surprised many when he joined the Twitterati on Wednesday (July 28). Instead of using a nickname like his rap peers @LilTunechi or @RickyRozay, he opted for a handle everyone knows and recognizes, @KanyeWest. His account has been verified and he currently follows no one.

“Up early in the morning taking meetings in Silicone Valley,” Yeezy wrote in one of his first tweets, later correcting himself. “Lol I spelled Silicon wrong ( I guess I was still thinking about the other type silicone ITS A PROCESS!! : )”

Kanye hasn’t always taken a liking to Twitter. In May 2009, he blasted the micro-blogging service for giving its users too much information. “WHY WOULD I USE TWITTER???” he asked in one of his all-caps blog entries. “I ONLY BLOG 5 PERCENT OF WHAT I’M UP TO IN THE FIRST PLACE. I’M ACTUALLY SLOW DELIVERING CONTENT BECAUSE I’M TOO BUSY ACTUALLY BUSY BEING CREATIVE MOST OF THE TIME AND IF I’M NOT AND I’M JUST LAYING ON A BEACH I WOULDN’T TELL THE WORLD. EVERYTHING THAT TWITTER OFFERS I NEED LESS OF.”

But maybe now he sees the benefit of using Twitter as a promotional vehicle for his new album, due September 14. Either way, Twitter just got more interesting.