I’m also careful to follow people who have views I don’t agree with or who have values I do not share. I want to learn to communicate, understand, and to foster respect. I get a little concerned that if I only follow people I agree with, I’m not going to learn much.

There’s a much longer list of “those I will not follow.” I won’t follow those who have:

10 or fewer posts — and are following a zillion people.
No avatar or profile — and are following zillion people.
Any avatar or profile overly focused on sex and violence.
A tendency to only push headlines instead of interacting.
Posted more than 3 times about MLM or affiliate programs.

There’s probably more I will not follow — I tend to “know ‘em when I see ‘em!” (For example: a woman’s name + a string of numbers — that Twitter handle is usually an automatic “block”!)

Like you, I used to automatically follow anyone who followed me but have since learned that this is not a very good strategy.

I’ll usually follow anyone who I interact with on my personal blog, my PR blog, other PR students and professors and people whose bio’s mention social media, PR, TV, fashion, and other things of that nature. If they don’t have a bio, I usually don’t follow.

I also look to see what they are talking about because I like a mix of personal tweets and ones that provide links and useful information. I hate reading tweets from people who are constantly spewing information. It’s overwhelming and I like to connect on a personal level as well as a professional level.

I really liked this blog post, and may do a post on PRowl’s blog similar to this and will be sure to link to you!