Joe Burris has this Father's Day Friday post:

My 13-year old daughter is fond of reminding my wife and me that she has more Facebook friends than the two of us combined. Yet the other day, I boasted to her that I have more Twitter followers. Upon hearing my number she had to agree.

Now, there are two simple reasons for this. First of all, many folks her age prefer sites such as Facebook and MySpace over Twitter. Secondly, I’ve learned how to lure Twitter followers to my page, and although my list is relatively small now, someday I hope to have the equivalent of the population of Omaha, Neb., following me.

The lure comes from keywords.

I once joked to a friend of mine that occasionally, while venturing out in cyberspace, I turn around, stare at some of my Twitter followers and ask, “Why are following me?” But I’m told that apparently some companies and organizations spot certain words that come up in Tweets and then respond by making your acquaintance.

I became aware of this while Tweeting during a recent trip to the dentist, only to discover later that I had become a magnet for the oral hygiene industry.

Nowadays, I venture out onto Tweet Street looking to draw followers. Although I erase many of them for repulsive content, I still have a fairly diverse batch -- from shopping sites to real estate sites to museums to a site written completely in Russian.

I bragged to my daughter that it shows how much folks show a keen interest in her dad. And I guess at one point I believed that. But now I know that such is tantamount to believing junk mail comes from someone who cared enough to write.