(UPDATE: See below.)



Oprah Winfrey, one of the nation's most influential women (and a billionaire to boot), is now on Twitter.

The Chicago talk show host and entrepreneur is a bit late to the party, considering a bunch of Congress members have been typing away 140-character messages on their cellphones for months.

President Obama, the first presidential candidate to whom she pledged her public support, used Twitter as a tool for rallying voters.

Just a couple hours after the segment aired on her show today, Winfrey's Twitter name, @oprah, already has more than 174,000 followers,** who will hypothetically receive brief updates about her show, magazine and products in the future.

Perhaps more interestingly, after creating her account Thursday, she amassed more than 35,000 followers by last night -- without any promotion or even a single tweet on the page.

But she still has a ways to go before she catches "That 70's Show" and "Punk'd" star Ashton Kutcher. Today Winfrey interviewed ....