A few months ago, I joined Twitter. And like most Twitter newbies, I immediately started following everyone under the sun - including everyone who followed me. I was petrified that if I didn't reciprocate being followed, then, my followers would stop following me.

Well, after I'd been on Twitter for about a month and observing some absolutely ridiculous tweets, I finally asked myself, "Why am I following all of these people? It's not like I'm desperate for business!"

Besides, I could care less about flyfishing, or the best manure to buy. And I don't want to hear about how much you hate Barack Obama - or that you had sex with someone you met at a seminar. Yes, these are all tweets that I observed while following certain individuals. And those were some of the better ones.

Don't get me wrong. I don't mind a little personal chit-chat every once in a while - within reason. But the main reason I joined Twitter was for business purposes.

Anyway, I decided to "trim my Twitter fat," so to speak. So, I slowly and meticulously looked over the list of people I was following - deleting names as I went along. And when I was finished, I had basically cut the number of people that I was following in half - to approximately 600. Then I waited for the other shoe to drop - a mass exodus of my followers.

Well, guess what. That mass exodus never happened. Sure, I lost a few followers. But for the most part, my followers stayed with me. I was both surprised, and relieved at the same time. Because I had erroneously heard that if you don't follow people back, they'll in turn stop following you.

Now I need to make one thing perfectly clear. I'm not suggesting that anyone here drop any of the people they're following. I'm not suggesting that at all. What I did, I did for my own personal reasons. It has nothing to do with you. We all have our own reasons for using Twitter. And if you enjoy a lot of personal chit-chat, more power to you.

That being said, if you have been thinking about dropping some of the people you're following, but were worried about the fall-out, if my experience is any indication, then, it's safe to assume that you can also trim some of your Twitter fat, without fear of any significant repercussions.

David Jackson