A few months ago I opened a Twitter account due to peer pressure.
I don't like text messaging except for business, and thought that Twitter was a silly waste of time.
But every marketer I admire was waxing poetic about how great Twitter is, and that MySpace was passé, and Facebook was clunky.
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.
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!