I don’t feel any guilt when I unfollow people, nor to I feel slighted when they unfollow me. We are the first generation facing the challenge of parsing so much information so quickly. Our attention spans haven’t been primed since childhood to accept such a data stream, we’re just learning. The only right answer, is the one that’s right for me.

The effect of this is to limit my tweeting time to before work and after evening activities. I go as long as 14 hours before checking in. I handle the backlog by keeping the number of people I follow low. I also check http://followcost.com to see if someone is very active. It’s not an automatic veto but weighs heavily in the decision.

I am also preparing to migrate some of my online identity to something new. This discussion helps me think about larger online communication issues, especially as it applies to multiple identities. Ms. Herr’s insights on that issue were great.

I like the filtering ideas and features described for Tweetdeck. I’ll have to start using it to conquer the tweet flood at the end of the evening!

I also find an important point in what md points out, if you are following someone (and they follow back), you have the option of DMing when needed. This does not mean you need to watch every tweet.

As I am in the 200-250 range of followers/followings (a small fraction of other tweeps), I have reached the point that it is impossible to follow everyone actively. So, using a tool like tweetdeck is great, even advisable. You are going to miss a huge chunk of them anyway, so why not “filter up” as @brianshaler, et al. suggest.

That said, I do not use tweetdeck, although I think I should. In truth, I have a handful of people that come directly to my phone (33% of which have already responded to this post). In this way, I see all their tweets. Then, since I am at a computer all day and night :-/ , I keep twitter open and pop over every now and again to check it out in real-time. There are some people who pop out and I read with more interest than others that I may skim over. Admittedly, stating I have twitter open always suggests that it is really more important in my life than it really is, and it CAN be a distracter; but it is really just a minimized window to check on occasion. I do pretty much practice the follow “most” followers largely for the point that @dneighbors brings up: it increases the chances of serendipitous moments. Also, it increases the chances of forming more solid friendships with like-minded folks with who you might not otherwise.

Etiquette? Well, I must concur with @msherr and the group; twitter is for you! unfollowing and not following someone is not impolite (although it might initiate a minimally awkward conversation if it is with someone you often see). That said, do not feel guilty about removing your affiliation w/someone who’s just not doin it for ya.

@tomas, your original dilema was how to treat/use twitter. Clearly, you understand the difference in the option. The question is how do you want to use it and then apply the method that is going to make it work best for you.

I think I get 5+ new followers every day. Currently, I follow back about half of them. If someone is an SEO hack or mortgage hack from across the country, I’m not following them back. If someone is a REALTOR from across the country, I will probably follow them back. If someone is following 2000 tweeps, with a 3 day old twitter account, I probably won’t follow them back. In fact, if someone varies greatly between followers (high) and following (low), I’m not likely to follow them.

Local to Phoenix, given my business, I follow darned near anyone that appears to be minutely interesting. I’ll be honest with regard to Phoenix, it’s because it’s another chance to get my name in front of them. But, I really do care about what’s going on in and around Phoenix, and I think I follow every single person that’s replied to this post. And you folks, I pay attention to quite closely (of course, with TweetDeck).

@Konstanze – I really like how you broke out each use for Twitter, and I think that ultimately I have to do some soul searching and decide what category I’m ultimately aiming for.

Private/personal: Probably a smaller stream if you are looking for ambience awareness of ppl you personally know and care for. Relatively little time spent yields the tremendous satisfaction of keeping up with friends and combating any feeling of lonliness.

Community of Practice-like: Probably a larger, select stream of individuals who hold knowledge you want that allows you to tap their explicit and tacit knowledge about topics of personal/research interest. The time spent browsing around/Twitter searching keywords seems useful enough and is satisfactory when you discover knew knowledge or are able to share your knowledge which in turn enhances your standing among the tweeps.

business/marketing: Huge stream of followers for most ubiquitous coverage of your message. No need to follow others, except to not appear rude or snobbish. Satisfaction is measured in monetary units as afforded by increased respect for the product/company and the enhanced status as ‘trusted advisor’.

exhibitionistic/voyeuristic: Let’s be honest, both these are valid sentiments and Twitter is the fitting response to these communicative needs, or should I say exigencies. There’s an element of both in all aforementioned uses and, for that matter, in all blogging/micro-blogging activity. Satisfaction clearly comes from a sense of accomplished self-importance (no matter how many ppl actually read your tweets) and from a less glorified need to ‘snoop’ in others’ lives (satisfying nontheless!)

As for the etiquette, I believe that we are in the midst of forming one. However, I also believe that it will, for the most part and rightfully so, be kept an individual matter simply because the technology affords us to tune in and out as we please. No need to put up with anyone/anything. This also is one of the major difference between f2f and online communication – the power to turn it off (one can always fall back on the old ‘my browser crashed’ excuse if s.o. complains.) So, translating rules of f2f etiquette to the tweetverse might not be necessary at all depending on your personal communicative need. Obviously pissing off potential customers is not desirable.
Twitter is all about YOU, YOU, and YOU.