Too Many or Too Little? The Art of Following People on Twitter
*Update: Getting lots of love from StumbleUpon, if you like this post, then Stumble it!
Introduction
Most people are concerned with how many people are following them on twitter, but something that is just as important if not more important is how many people you are following on Twitter. When it comes to figuring out how many people you should follow, you need to take a step outside of yourself and objectively understand what you are trying to accomplish by using twitter.
I just want to connect and communicate with friends
If you are using Twitter simply to connect and communicate with friends then the answer to this question is simple. Only follow your friends. If you have 100 friends on Twitter, then follow 100 people. If you have 500 friends on Twitter, then follow 500 people. Never feel pressured to follow people who are following you, remember, Twitter is whatever you want it to be.
I want to learn while using twitter
If you are on Twitter because some of the most brilliant minds in our industry are on Twitter then the answer to this question is also simple. Follow people who you believe will provide you with both quality value and knowledge. There is so much great information transmitted via Twitter everyday, and if you follow the right mix of people, you can take in a lot of valuable information. If your interests are very specific, then amount of people you follow will be relatively low; conversely if your interests cover a variety of topics, then you will probably follow a higher amount of people.
I want to see the latest news
If you are using Twitter as a means of getting your news, then guess what? The answer to this question is once again simple. Follow a lot of people! The more people you follow, the higher your chances of stumbling upon some breaking news. Be careful though, there is a certain point where you can follow too many people, and thus you may miss certain news. In this situation, a good number of people to follow is 1,000 - yes this is a bit high, but since you are simply looking out for news the noise shouldn’t be too bad.
Wait, I want to do all of these things and more!
Ah, here is where it gets complicated! Twitter is a multi-faceted monster that gives the user so much flexibility. The formula I use to determine how many people I follow goes a little something like this:
First I follow my friends. If a personal friend of mine uses Twitter I follow them. I am genuinely interested in what my friends are doing from time to time, and following them is nothing short of a pleasure, thanks guys!
I follow many industry leaders. If there is an individual who has accomplished a lot, or is truly interesting in our space, then I will most likely follow them. That isn’t to say that I follow every single big name, you need to pick those that are interesting to you.
I follow people I meet. If I meet someone at a conference that I feel as if I would like to network with in the future I follow them. Twitter is a great means of communication, and sometimes a tweet or two can turn an acquaintance into a friend.
I try to follow as many people as I can keep up with. I personally like to read each and every single tweet, and that being the case, that means I can not follow a thousand people. If you like to read every tweet, find a number of people you can keep up with and afford to dedicate your time to.
Conclusion
There truly isn’t a right way to use Twitter. If you wan’t to follow thousands of people go right ahead (Scoble does it, and you know what? It works for him!) If you want to follow 10 people, that works too. Following people on Twitter comes right down to you, the individual.
