Obie Fernandez recently posted this link to a story about how Twitter may or may not ruin the application for “power users”, and that Twitter staff people use the app to follow a more selective group of people. As I read through the article, I found myself wondering what the problem was. Twitter employees are only following (gasp!) between 500 and 1000 people! Heresy!

I enjoy using Twitter, and I follow those people whose comments add value for me either by entertainment, content, or my social connection to them. One thing any person living in the digital age needs is less noise, and constantly trimming my Twitter follow list is one way I try (and fail) to manage that noise. Twitter CEO Evan Williams wrote a response to this article (this is provided by the author), articulating similar points, and also pointed out there’s no right number of people to follow.

About the only thing I will give them is the fact that @ replies were intentionally broken - this change actually took away data you opted to receive in the form of your follow list. Otherwise, take it easy - just because Twitter staff members choose to follow a manageable number of people does not mean they plan to close off the platform.