Not too long ago I was filling out an “achievement” form for an award that I want to obtain. This award was based on your community presence and how well you engaged the community to spread the value of the award’s intended purpose. One of the questions asked was your twitter username and how many followers you had.

Every day I receive at least one user following me that is either a local business, some “hot chick” looking for a lonely guy, or someone selling some device at ridiculously low prices. Each and every time I reach for the spam link to report them, I think about that form. Do I  block them because they probably have no interest in what I have to say, or do I let them follow so they can pad my follower count? We are talking about the possibility of hundreds of additional followers.

Most of the time I just report them for spam but I always have to think about it first. To me this is just the social version of “What certifications do you have?” Most certification exams are no more than just a test of how well you can memorize something, not how well you know a subject. Saying you have a lot of followers just means you know a lot of people. Maybe the better question is: Who are your followers? Quality over quantity.