Question : When I use Twitter, should I be following everyone who follows me, or should I carefully screen people before I follow them back? I’ve seen strong cases made for both and I’m not sure which way to go.

Answer : This dilemma of whether to follow everyone who follows you on Twitter or not is one that comes up a lot regarding this hot social media site. I’ll let you know what I do, but you should keep in mind that there is no true right or wrong (unless it comes from the site’s owners).

When I first started using the site, I used to be very selective about it, and I just wasn’t getting a lot of followers and the interaction I wanted. I decided to do an experiment, and I started following everyone back who followed me (except for those “strange activity” people, of course). My follower numbers soared.

People talk about viral video all the time, and then they forget that Twitter is viral. When you follow someone back, it exposes you to their followers, and some people will check you out solely because they see something interesting you’ve said to that person. Others like to check out followers, and those being followed, by someone they are connected to as well, so you can get picked up by people you actually would have wanted to target anyway, simply in that fashion.

I decided that even if not everyone is a direct connection to what I’m about, and the topics I cover on this social media site, so what? Everyone on Twitter is impressed with people who have a lot of followers. Come on, admit it, haven’t you thought twice about following someone back, or not even followed them at all because they hardly had any followers (again, except those who are obviously not for real)?

You just never know who will be associated with someone who just might be a key connection for you And the person who you think on the surface might not be an obvious match today, suddenly could end up being interested in your topic tomorrow, as their own circumstances, or the ones of someone they know, change.

Some facts : Twitter is dominated by newer users – 70% of Twitter users joined in 2008. An estimated 5-10 thousand new accounts are opened per day. 35% of Twitter users have 10 or fewer followers, 9% of Twitter users follow no one at all. There is a strong correlation between the number of followers you have and the number of people you follow.

About the Author : Melanie Jordan (@melaniejor), Infopreneur, Marketing Coach and produce “What You Know Is Worth More Than You Know“, the Podcast which teaches infopreneuring from a unique perspective.