Yeah well, I came across yours and had to write to tell you I enjoyed it very much. I gave it the thumbs up, so more people can come across it and enjoy it also.

Thanks Mary, I’ll certainly consider a follow up article like that. The interesting thing for me with you asking this question is that YOU are the expert at making connections and building relationships via email. I’ve learned a lot from you. As a starting point I would encourage you to take the same ideas you use with email and use them in Twitter. A couple of thoughts to help get you going:
1. When someone you are following gives a valuable tweet then retweet their message. This is really easy to do in Tweet Deck. It spreads their message and usually the person is thankful for you doing so. You are contributing to both your followers, and to the person you retweeted.
2. When people ask questions, you can often answer by replying. This is a public reply that adds your contribution to the public stream. When I look at top Twitter users I notice that 50% or more of their tweet stream shows replies to people.

I hope that helps!

I think the most important thing to keep in mind is #9. Contribute something of value. Be sure not to go on Twitter and over promote yourself or only Tweet links about yourself or over promote yourself. This comes across as spammy and people will view it as such. Instead you should Tweet information that they are likely to find informative and/or entertaining. Focus on becoming a resource so people will want to hear what you have to say. that being said also keep in mind that people can’t hear your Tweets unless they are also following you back. It’s not enough to follow someone but they must follow you back.You can check on the main Twitter page who you are following and who is following you back.

I hope that helps.