Who do YOU follow on Twitter? Lately, this has been a quandary for me. I know that having lots of Twitter followers is important to many people, and I don't want to insult people who follow me by not following them back. However, the truth is that I am simply unable to read the tweets of tens of thousands of people, even if I use a service like Tweetdeck to organize them. So here's how I personally make the decision:
1) I follow people who have a photo in their profile. This assures me that they are serious about using Twitter as a personal branding tool.
2) I follow people who have a real person's name in their profile. I prefer to communicate with an individual rather than a company or business.
3) I follow people who write in English. This one pains me the most, but if I can't understand what you're writing, I can't be sure it's not spam or offensive content. It's nothing personal!
4) I follow people who have tweeted in the last 24-48 hours.
5) I follow people who have re-tweeted me or engaged in a conversation with me. Doing these things helps interesting followers get noticed, because unfortunately sometimes they get lost in the shuffle of spammers.
6) And last but not least, I follow people who aren't trying to sell me something directly, but are in my space (business and career advice) and have valuable insights and information to share.
Now, it's your turn, Twitter users. How do you decide who to follow? And for those not on Twitter, I'd love to know why you've chosen not to use it.
