Twitter is a great tool. You can meet new people, you can find freelancers, you can get a job, you can get answers. These are all examples that I experienced. However, it all depends on who follows you.
When you ask a question on Twitter not everyone that follows you will see that question. Then only a percentage of the people that see your tweet respond because they know the answer and want to share it with you. Use 1:100, 100 followers and 1 reply, as a rule of thumb.
If you want interaction on Twitter and answers for your question it is good to get the right people to follow you. It is best that you start answering questions of the people that you follow. So people can see that you are also giving to the community.
One of the questions I often get is “Where can I find interesting people to follow?”
When you start to follow people in your niche, potential co-workers, potential clients, experts, often they will follow you back. If they don’t follow you back, you can always unfollow them, if that is important to you.
One great source to find people is de Tweepguide. There are a few versions Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, UK and world wide but mostly US. It is based on what keywords people use in their Twitter profile.
It is a great resource because there are all kinds of categories e.g. blogger UK, journalist UK, Coach .com, WordPess NL.
Another great feature is that you can search in Tweepguide. Search on people with ‘social media‘ in their profile.
Other great resources are blog posts like these
- The 100 Most Powerful Women On Twitter
- Twitter Elite by TwitterGrader
- The First 99 People to Follow on Twitter
- Top 100 Geeks you should follow on Wired
- Top 100 most popular via Twittercounter
- Twitter for Social Entrepreneurship: The Top 100 Tweeps to Follow
- 100 Top Graphic Designers to Follow on Twitter
- Directory: 100 technology experts on Twitter via ZDNet
- 100 web designers to follow on Twitter
- 100 Designers To Follow On Twitter
- 100 social media experts to follow on Twitter
- 100 PR People Worth Following on Twitter
- Top Design Savvy Tweeters
Some more interesting lists can be found on TweepML. The lists on TweepML have a great ‘Follow All’ feature. Klick and you will start following all the people on the list.
What resources do you use to find interesting people to follow?
Thanks Erno – never heard of tweepguide. Will check it out.