How/Why I use twitter!?

First off let me run 2 asterisks or disclaimers:

*1. If you don't like/get or just flat out hate twitter, that's cool. It is definitely not for everyone and I can appreciate that. (click here to just laugh at me)

**2. If you are reading on it is important to me that you understand this post is just me sharing how I use twitter. I don't know if my way is a good way or a bad way, I don't care. I sincerely don't care how you use twitter, it is truly a tool to be used 100% at the user's discretion.Even spammers, #dowatchalike , I can always choose to not follow you. (Obviously you gotta follow the law and Twitter's Terms)

Ok so that said....

I really like twitter. I love the conversation on it. That word, conversation, is really my motto or mission statement on twitter. The concept of conversation is how I make decisions on twitter.

Here's what I do on Twitter.

1. I share: I post thoughts and links about stuff I think is cool, I love when it produces conversation.

2. I communicate, sometimes I kinda look at it as a chat tool. I just carry on conversations with great folks.(seekzpeace)

3. I learn - holy crap there's alot of people way smarter than me on twitter and I like getting smarter.(Unmarketing)

4. I laugh - theres also some really funny people on twitter. (Badbanana)

5. I drop little notes to my wife cause... well... gotta let her know I love her. (tamajama)

6. I just read - I heard that smart people read alot so I look for stuff that keeps my attention long enough to stay focused on. (flawnt)

How do I decide who to follow?

***Update 7/14/09 -I was spending too much time checking every single follower out. I still check most of them but my rule is now that I just follow those that interact or "@codyks" me, thanks.

1. I check the profile and web link of every single (not spammers) person that follows me and if they look interesting or smarter than me, I follow and see if they want to communicate. Twitter is not about being a bystnader looking on, to me, so if they don't want to communicate I am likely to unfollow later. If they are a legit news source (breakingnews) or just too funny or interesting to worry about communicating with (abba_ks) I will continue to follow. But mostly if they aren't willing to have a back and forth once in a while. I won't follow. I am very concerned and aware of who I follow. I want to try and catch as much knowledge/entertainment as possible from my friends so I try to keep my timeline from getting overwhelming. Please be aware I know this loses me followers. I know some folks follow me and I don't follow back so they unfollow. I don't care. I don't want to hurt anyones feelings, but being able to keep track of and actually communicate with my friends is way more important to me than my followers number.

2. I also sometimes check my friends "following" lists and see if there is any good follows there. Same rules as above, I follow them and see if they want to be a part of the discussion and if not I am likely to unfollow. But some again are just to smart/funny/interesting to ever stop following.

How do I get people to follow me?

I don't, I just try to be sincere and genuine and participate and thats it. I don't have a ton of followers because of that and that's cool cause I can communicate with them. I respond to every single reply I get, Again, I like the conversation.

If you are just starting out, be patient, but also be picky. Following massive amounts of people in hopes to get followers makes you look like a spammer, be sincere and genuine and it will happen. if you are just starting out, all the people I linked to in this article are great follows. They are a good place to start to get to know some folks.

If you have any questions I will give you answers, they will be answers about how I do it, not facts, just my opinion.

if you want I am here on twitter.

Thanks! Thoughts?