Twitter Followers: Quantity or Quality?

I have often wondered, who follows businesses on Twitter? Employees? Customers? Other Businesses? Why do people follow them, and what are the benefits of having all of those followers? Many businesses that wish to build a strong presence on Twitter should be asking these questions.

Although there are some benefits to having a large number of followers, companies should focus more on acquiring quality followers. According to Mashable, a program called Schmap can help you analyze your Twitter followers, which can improve optimization of your Twitter account as a social media tool for your business.

Top 5 Favorite Professional "Tweeps"

1. @chrisbrogan- President of Human Business Works. Has a great blog and always has interesting tweets about life as well.
2. @GuyKawasaki- Author of Enchantment. Always has great articles to read about twitter and other social media sites. Great follow!
3. @ev-  Co-founder of Twitter. Tweets about new insights in the field as well insightful articles about social media. Never a bad thing to follow the guy who helped invent the site!
4. @AdamSinger- PMM @GoogleAnalytics and creator of @TheFutureBuzz. One of the best blogs that i have read. Really find interest in this guy's tweets!
5. @juliaroy- freelance consultant and @workhacks cofounder. A great entrepreneur that i like to follow. 

 Just recently, I started using Twitter at the end of January. I have gained a little over 50 followers since that time, but it's more about the quality of followers that i have. I engage with a good half of them and about ten of them on a regular basis.