Twitter: Finding People To Follow

When you're new to Twitter, you may wonder how to find new people to follow or to get more people to follow you.  I prefer the natural way to follow people and grow my list of Followers on Twitter.  I DON'T auto-follow and I NEVER join lists that promise you thousands of followers.  If you're going for numbers then go ahead and do it that way.  Here's what I do:

• Check out people following me and if they look interesting then I'll happily follow them back.
• Look at who's following people I follow or who are following me.  This can often turn up a few gems - especially if you move in the same circles, as you'll find people you didn't know were on Twitter.
• Check your Twitter stream.  Who's replying to your followers?  You can often find people to follow through who other people are reply to and Re-Tweeting.
• Use tools like Twellow and GeoChirp to find people in a particular industry or in your area.
• When you meet people at offline networking events you'll often find that they're also on Twitter, find their Twitter ID and follow them.
• Use Google or an internet search engine to check a person's name and see if they're on Twitter.  Not everyone uses their own name for Twitter - they may use their Company name.
• Check people's contact details in their online profiles - they'll probably list their Twitter name there too (or they should do).
• Check #FollowFriday tweets - people recommend others to follow.  Add a few of your own and give a reason so other people can check them out too.

You'll grow your followers and you'll find that the more you tweet and the more you participate, the more quickly it will happen.