Twitter’s popularity has gone beyond imagining and it’s spreading like a viral fever. Billions of twitter profiles which are interconnected in some inexplicable way is something that is nothing less than magic. No doubt it has been tagged ‘The next big thing’. But every good thing comes at a price. While on one hand twitter is an amazing platform for microblogging, it has also provided a free marketing platform for pathetic ‘salesmen’. Researches say 80% of the twitter users advertise their own product. Of course promoting something good on a versatile platform like Twitter is good but sometimes you expect pure information and real knowledge when you follow someone. So here are some important points to consider before hitting that ‘Follow’ button.

1) Following/followers ratio: (Less is better)

This should be the first deciding factor before following a person on Twitter. Check out the ratio of the number of people the person is following to the number of people following the person. If it turns out to be between 0 and 1 then it is good, but if more than 1 then you may have to see other criteria before following him. Don’t get fooled by the ‘number’ of followers he has. Always check the ratio. For example, a person may be following 1200 people and 1234 are following him. Now here, obviously the ratio is less than 1 but see the difference; just 34. It turns out that majority of people start following a person the moment they find out he is following them. May be they don’t want to be rude, may be they feel obliged and the result is he may end up with these figures. So its advisable to follow those whose following to followers ratio is between 0 to 0.75. However there are other deciding factors too. Read on.

2) Average duration between two tweets:

This one depends upon personal taste. But hey, when you follow someone, it means you expect their tweet at least once a day right? There are so many people who login to twitter, fire 5-10 tweets together and then disappear for months. Then they come back and repeat this. You don’t need to follow them. Tweeting is something that should have a constant periodic flow. It is better to follow a person who maintains a flow of 2 tweets per week than to follow the one who vomits out a dozen tweets at a time and then goes into hibernation. To remain connected is the key here.

3) Number of tweets:

I have seen Twitter profiles where a person follows 50 people, is followed by 45 (out of obligation, maybe) and his total number of tweets are 3. This is not the person you would want to follow. Chances are his following and followers counter will increase forever but there won’t be a substantial increase in the number of his tweets. I call such people ‘listeners’. They just login to twitter, ‘listen’ to what 50 people are saying, and log off. It’s useless to follow them.

4) People who have their tweets protected:

Twitter provides the facility to hide your tweets. In order to read the protected tweets, you need the person’s permission and if he/she approves, you are allowed to see their tweets. Now personally I don’t like to follow such people because they have not yet fully understood the concept of twitter. Such people mistakenly think Twitter is just another social networking site. But it’s not. Twitter is a microblogging site. So it’s better to leave them in their own world. They will soon realise. May be then you would like to reconsider.

5) Bio:

The bio of a person in Twitter is small information about him. This is a vital part to be observed because this is the concentrated juice of the whole personality of the person. Go though the bio once. May be you would decide whether to follow him or not just by reading his bio.

6) The Content:

I kept this point last because it is utmost important. Even if you remain a little lazy about checking the above points, please don’t ignore this one. The content of the tweets of a person on Twitter should be the final deciding factor whether or not to follow them.

On the profile page you are able to see his tweets. If you see a lot of Retweets (RT for short) then it is a negative factor. The person is just shouting out what others are saying. Such people have no content from themselves. You can check out whom he has retweeted and follow that person instead of the retweeter. However an occasional retweet is not bad but one sway away from proving original content.

Some people love links. They share lot of outgoing links. Check properly what they are linking to. If you find the linked content relevant and justifiable then you should follow that person. But beware, lot of marketing pussies will try to sell their products by providing bunch of links in their every tweet. Needless to say, avoid them at all costs.

As a whole, the tweets of a person reflect his personality. So glance through the tweets and if you find them interesting then follow the person for sure. The above points are just small mindwork that needs to be done and by no means a complete list. So you may share your views about whom to follow and whom not to.