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Here are a few observations about Twitter:1. More followers is always better (or at least no worse) than few followers. If nothing else, you just don't have to interact with more people at once than you can handle.
2. You get "street cred" when you have tons of followers. I have about 50K or so (under a Twitter account of the same name as my handle here), and I have everyone from aspiring hip hop artists to minor celebrities contacting me.
3. Unless you're Lady Gaga or Justin Bieber, there really is no sure fire way to build a huge following. Mostly, people will follow you if you follow them back, and vice versa. Justunfollow is very useful for this.
4. If you get 1 out of 10 or even 100 to interact with you long term, you're probably doing really well. There are a lot of bots and a lot of zombie accounts on Twitter.