Robert Scoble is a big fan of Twitter - there is no hiding that a fact. He might as well be shouting it from the roof tops which is great for Twitter as it brings more and more people to the service. Now Robert is also well known for the massive numbers of followers or friends that he gets on any service he joined. It has almost become a running joke in the blogosphere.

Tonight though Robert has a post where he has apparently changed his tune about his friend and follower philosophy. Where it was once the number of followers he had that matter it has switched to the number of people he is following

I’ve gone through stages with Twitter. At some point I thought it was important to get lots of followers. But lately I’ve been telling people that the secret to Twitter isn’t how many followers you have, but how many people you are following.

Well it is nice to see that he has come to realize this but he is still missing an even more important lesson I think. It doesn’t matter how many people you are following. What does matter is the quality and value the people you are following can bring to conversations you either start or are involved in.

You can follow a thousand people who bring little to the table over a long haul or you could follow a 100 who continually contribute ideas and conversations everyday. Being able to maintain quality and value from your friend lists takes work. Just as you need to make sure that the folks you are adding to your contacts meet you standards you have set you also have to make sure those already on the list should stay there.

So congrats Robert but personally I think you are only halfway there.

Conversation Tags: Robert Scoble, Twitter, friends, followers