“How much is buzz and a big online user base worth?”  That’s the question a lot of people have been asking after, in what’s the biggest tech-related financial story in a while, the company called Twitter was reportedly valued at $1 billion in a round of funding last week.

What’s more (or technically, less), the $1 billion isn’t all theoretical.  Twitter is supposed to have raised $100 million from a group of investors including the respected mutual fund specialist T. Rowe Price, and it’s that group that agreed to put a value of $1 billion on the company.

So they’re pretty much putting their money with their mouths are, or are at least putting a respectable amount of money somewhere along the air-to-mouth path.

Critics have pointed out that Twitter isn’t pulling in much in the way of revenue aside from funding, of course, and the company hasn’t shared much about its plans for making money.  There are also some charts in existence that appear to show Twitter’s growth rate slowing down.

Still, it looks like we’re either looking at the start of a new communications medium or another bubble.  Big stuff either way.