Should I follow back everyone who follows me on Twitter?

Yes. Follow everyone back.

Inevitably someone is going to suggest that following everyone back will lead to cluttered twitter streams and more information than you could ever possibly read. Blah, blah, blah. To that I say nonsense. And then I say shut up. And then I say shut up again because I really mean it this time.

Following people back is good Twitter etiquette. Your followers are basically telling you that what you tweet is worth paying attention to and therefore worth following. Following your followers back is a confirmation that you are ‘listening’ and want to hear what they have to say. Returning a follow confirms that you’re part of the Twitter community and not just spewing nonsense into the ether.

Should I really follow EVERYONE?

No. Don’t be stupid. Twitter is rife with spammers and porn-bots and people trying to sell you ‘natural male enhancements’. Be selective and don’t follow them. And don’t try to get clever and use one of those services that automatically follows the people who follow you. This is the kind of account maintenance that needs to be done regularly by a real live human being.

As much as it pains me to use this particular local politician as an example of doing this correctly, please turn your attention to Rep. Michele Bachmann’s Twitter account. The list of people she’s following is proportional to those who are following her, but the list has very obviously been groomed to accommodate only genuinely interested followers. I’d like to add that this is one of the rare instances where I’ll advise you to do anything like Michele Bachmann.

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