Three hundred and seventy eight.

That's the number of people that I currently follow on Twitter -- 378.  I have over three times as many followers, but the likelihood of me currently following you is relatively small.  And this is intentional and I want to explain why sometimes "more" isn't always better when cultivating your relationships on Twitter specifically.

Someone who follows thousands of people on Twitter recently mentioned to me in conversation how much easier my ability to follow and keep up with people was because I only had 300 or so people that I followed.

Exactly.

I probably don't currently follow you on Twitter, but that's not due to any pretention on my part.  It's not due to a need to withdraw or the desire to not know about you and what you're like.

It's actually because I care about you and I probably don't even know you.

When I choose to follow someone, I am really hoping that at some point in time I can take some piece of our relationship and connect you to someone or a source of information that can benefit you.  The only way that I, personally, am able to do this is if I have a chance to read your tweets, process what you've said or mentioned, get some insight into your personality and then store that away for later use.

And then I wait for the day when I can spot a bit of information that you'd like or when I might be able to connect you with someone who has your interests.

This week, I sent Leyla Arsan a link to an article that Stacey Hood had retweeted about Howard Stern.  Why?  Because from interacting with Leyla, I know she's a Howard Stern fan.

I also introduced Bonnie Lynn to Jen Jarboe -- two women who share a love for American muscle cars.

And yesterday, I thought about Shannon Whitley when I saw my teacher friend, Chad Brannon, post an article about the usefulness of cursive writing since I remembered Shannon questioning the need to teach cursive writing in a tweet a few weeks back.

So, see, the only way that I'm going to help you benefit online is if I take the time to figure out each person I follow.  My criteria for who I follow varies, but the criteria of who I choose to follow isn't as relevant as how long I wait to fill my feed with more personalities.

Using the weathered "cocktail party" analogy yet again, I'd rather stand in a small group in the corner where you're talking and listen to you for a while.  At some point, I'll mingle with another group, but I'll probably hang out there for a bit as well.  But I'm not one to grip-and-grin and move from person to person, only grabbing a name or a job location along the way.

Give me some time and let me learn all about the people I'm currently following.  They have good things to say.  But your success in the social space just matters too much to me for me to follow you right now.