I have to admit that the first month went by rather uneventfully. I followed a few friends and generally ignored my account. Twitted once a week if I remembered to, and wasn’t sure who if anyone was reading my drivel, like “Eating fresh apple pie” and “Had a good dump.”

Mysteriously, my friend count went up to about 60, and I didn’t bother to follow anyone back since I had no idea who they were. After checking a few of them out, I decided that I was being followed by a bunch of hungry salespeople. More reason to ignore Twitter.

Then someone I met during an after party at a marketing conference said something which made sense of it all. He said to ignore all the spam and just pretend that Twitter is a party. Go find people who are following people I like, follow them, and see if you can strike up a conversation and get them to follow back.

Easier said than done. Ever been at a party full of new home business people? (And I don’t mean a Tupperware party.) It’s near impossible to get into any conversation which doesn’t turn into a business pitch!

So here’s what I did. I tweeted jokes, dumb, clean jokes. (What gets wet as it dries? …A Towel!) I started with one joke a day. And every time I got a new follower, I sent a message thanking them and asking if they had any jokes. By the end of a week, I had 350 followers! In 3 weeks, I hit 1000 followers, and today, about two months and several jokes later, I hit 6,000.

Those little jokes have started some real conversations, and have resulted in a few good business connections already. It’s slow going, but I’m having fun with it, and have been collecting jokes which are sent to me. (This one came in today: Have you seen the movie “Constipated”…no, perhaps it hasn’t come out yet……ugh!) I also like to re-tweet or comment on lots of interesting and funny stuff others are posting.

Daddy Jim Wood Telling A Twitter Joke

One of the interesting offshoots of these tweet-jokes is that it is keeping my Dad entertained, and helping his memory. He’s turning 84 in a few days, and needs something besides television to take his mind off of his physical condition. I am his primary care-giver, and announce each new joke to him as the tweets come in. He remembers lots of them, and entertains the nurses by doing a little comedy routine when they come to visit. They think he’s cute!