Twitter offers two ways of finding other Twitter users you might want to follow. You can find individuals using the “Find People” feature. Type in a keyword that relates to your own Tweets and anyone who uses that keyword in their Twitter account name will appear in the search return.

Another way to find people to follow is by using the “Search” feature. Type in keywords that are important to your own interests and Tweets and other people using those keywords in their Tweets will appear in the search results.

You can also look at who is following you. If they are interested in your Tweets they might also be Tweeting about things that are of interest to you and your own followers.

Before you follow anyone, visit their Twitter account site. Their name and Tweets might have matching keywords but you also want to be sure they are not marketers or spammers. You also will do better to follow active users who Tweet often about common interests. If they have not Tweeted in the past month their account might not be active.

You should also consider the ratio of how many followers someone has to how many people they are following. Mass Marketers [who you may not want to follow] usually follow thousands or tens of thousands of other people indiscriminately. They will not be providing Tweets of interest to your followers.

Don’t follow celebrities because they have so many followers and the volume of Tweets they get make it ineffective for business use. You want to stick to following people who Tweet about similar things. A benefit of following someone is that you can direct message them so your Tweet to that individual can be sent privately. You cannot have a private conversation [through direct message Tweets] unless you follow them first.

If a marketer with a mission is following you, a spammer, or porn promoter, you probably want to block them. It is harder when you need to block someone because they are rambling off topic all the time but you have to consider the time and interests of all your followers.

As a general rule:

Follow people you find relevant;
Follow people you care about; and
Follow others following you who are interesting.