I find myself using Twitter much more for communication and collaboration – and using e-mail, IM and blogs less.
But I am facing what I’d like to call the “Twitter Dilemma”: what is the maximum number of people you can reasonably follow on Twitter?
On one hand, a lot of people I know say 100-200, and anything beyond that and they aren’t able to really follow what’s happening. Interestingly, Dunbar’s Number suggests that the max is around 150.
On the other hand, I look at people like Chris Brogan, Robert Scoble and Jeff Pulver who follow many thousands of people. The mere fact they follow so many people… seems to attract even more people who in turn follow them, further building their popularity.
But does this really need to be an either or proposition? Can you have your Twitter cake and eat it too?
What I really want from Twitter is to be able to “follow” several hundred people (that I check now and then as I have time) – and have a way to segment the people I’m following with a subset of “favorite people I’m following” (close friends, family and people who always have something compelling to say), a subset that I don’t want to miss anything they Tweet.
How do YOU deal with the “Twitter Dilemma”? Post your ideas in the comments section.
If you’re using Twitter in an interesting way, I’d like to follow you! Get in touch here.
