Ask Twitter: How Many Should You Follow?

Here is what Guy Kawasaki wrote in a recent post on twitter about followers:

And, truth be told, there are only two kinds of Twitter users: those that want more followers and those that lie. You can follow me here.

The reason you want more followers is the law of big numbers: the more followers, the more people talking about what you do, the more you can reach the tipping point.

How many people should you follow? And why would you want to follow all of them anyway?

Obviously there are different philosophies about this...NUTSHELL - I follow everyone who follows me and unfollow anyone who unfollows me. I willingly follow a lot to get a lot of follow back. Since I follow a lot, 1,593 at time of this post, people often ask how I keep up.

Truth is...there is no possible way. What I do is set up a group in TweetDeck in which I filter out specific people I do follow. I mainly really follow people who talk and connect with me on Twitter. I really follow people who I want to see how their mind works throughout the day. I really follow people in my "industry". I follow people who are adding to the conversation.

But I mainly follow so many because there is a mutual follow back....1,600 at time of post...and I have met so many new friends because of it. And that is about connection...life is all about connections. That next person you are following could be the key to an opportunity you are about to experience.

This week I learned the power of the follow when I had so many people tell us they were praying for our family through a health situation.

I also want to be a pacesetter...one who is out on the edge trying new things and hopefully setting trends. And if you want to lead you have to put yourself out in front.

Of course this being our theme this week...I pitched it to my twitter friends. How Many Should You Follow?

1. @rafaelmarquez as many as you can pay attention to
2. @sassy007 as many as you actually converse with.
3. @JohanCyprich Follow everyone. Everyone has something useful to contribute and say.
4. @VoteMikeJones 60 or less, I explain more here http://tinyurl.com/c7hk3p
5. @jcride442 at least as many that follows you, thats my motto.

Catch up with the rest of our Twitter Series:

• What Is Twitter
• How Many Tweets
  
• Favorite Twitter Tools
• How Many Followers Is Too Many
  
• How To Build Your Follower Base
  
• *Bonus* Why Should Your Church Twitter?
  

You can follow my tweets at twitter.com/jasoncurlee