Twitter is the rage all again, what with folks following layoffs on Twitter, their favorite music celebrities (Kanye West, Britney Spears, etc…), sports celebrities and more. But most professionals I know give Twitter a try and then give up for a variety of reasons – chief among which is that Twitter can be a huge time sink and a distraction if not used properly.

PBS Media Shift’s Simon Owens laments the increasing frequency with which his email Inbox fills up with Twitter alerts of new followers, which owes its genesis to “reciprocal friending” – the compulsion to follow someone who starts following you! The post goes on to stumble upon an important commandment of social network “friending” (via Minjae Ormes):

For me, it’s just simple mathematics: Every person I add is just another set of tweets that I’ll have to scroll through to get to the ones I really want to read.

That’s the only rule I follow on LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter. And, that’s the one rule everyone will realize sooner vs. later…which is friend those individuals whose updates you actually want to read! Interestingly, LinkedIn started the trend of showing you who those valuable connections may be with a feature “People You May Know”. Facebook has something similar and now for Twitter you’ve got Mr. Tweet, which I highly recommend.

Step 1: All you’ve to do is Follow Mr. Tweet

In return, Mr. Tweet will suggest

1. Your followers you should follow

2. Influencers you should follow

Saves you time and ensures you follow the folks you ought to be following. Do you have a “friending” strategy? Explain in the comments. Speaking of Twitter friending, Jeremiah has put together a tweet-up at the British Banker’s Club in Menlo Park tomorrow. If you’re attending, let me know by leaving a comment or DM me on Twitter.