We had 54 followers. I remember, because I kept a spreadsheet. 54 followers and an automated feed regurgitating our headlines.

I don’t remember how, exactly, I got tapped to change that. I think my boss on the copy desk just figured, Nathan likes writing. He’ll like this. (She was correct!)

Twitter in 2008 was largely terra incognita. I just knew I had to be funny and concise. So as I helped publish our daily articles, I looked for interesting topics I could sum up pithily: “In the fast-food burger price wars, the second slice of cheese is the first casualty.” I’d signal-boost Tweets from our growing roster of related company accounts, or from our contributors.

No one laid down what I couldn’t do. So I went for it. For one of our annual April Fools’ pranks, I created an entire second account, @daytradingcat, ostensibly written by a cat who’s really obsessed with 90-day moving averages. Another April 1, I live-Tweeted an entirely imaginary customer revolt that ended with our founders evacuating HQ in a helicopter. On Halloween, I’d mix a ghost story in with the usual Tweets, or highlight the awesome costumes my coworkers wore to the office.

And always, I tried to make our voice cheerful, enthusiastic, and only snarky to companies that could take the heat. When customers asked questions or needed help, I’d make sure they got what they needed, in full view of the public, with plenty of kindness.

That approach must have worked. By the time I left the role in 2015*, those 54 followers had grown to more than 500,000.

See a sample of archived tweets from my tenure.

*Our CEO and co-founder wanted to run the account, alongside our then-contributor and now-New York Times bestselling author, the brilliant Morgan Housel. Which is kind of like being asked to take the bench in your rec-league basketball team so that LeBron James and Victor Wembanyana can sub in for you.