If you want to get in on the conversation in Twitter, you'll need followers. A follower is like a "Friend" on Facebook - it's someone who decided they want to get your daily micro messages (ie - your tweets).

But unlike with Facebook, the arrangement doesn't have to be sealed by both parties. On Twitter, one can follow someone who does not follow them back, and vice versa. This results in a one way flow of conversation (not always, but for the most part this is the rule).

That said, how many followers you have is considered your social currency on Twitter. Some people embrace wholeheartedly the idea of acquiring as many followers as possible. And some try to keep it to a more manageable, more intimately personal number. How many followers you seek is something you need to individually decide.

For example, I am at the point where I want to be more selective with whom I follow, myself. This will probably result in my number of followers to stay in the hundreds, instead of thousands. My prediction is that this will be a more frequent trend on Twitter once people start to feel saturated with the massive effort of keeping up with the entire world.

Still, you need some followers if you don't want to be talking to yourself on Twitter. Here are some easy ways to make sure your Twitter account is appealing to potential followers:

• First of all, load up an actual photo of yourself in your profile. This photo will be called your avatar. Some people use logos for their avatar, which is appropriate if you are tweeting on behalf of your business. A logo is less interesting to followers if you are tweeting as an individual. A third choice is to load up a cartoon or sketch of you, instead of a photo. For some people, like @DoshDosh, this works quite well as a personal brand.
  
  In general, tweeps tend to prefer to see a person's face, their eyes, their expressions. If you load an actual photo of you, this is literally putting your best face forward.
  
  
• Fill out your profile. Use the whole space given. Mention your interests and see who finds you. In my profile, I've found fellow geeks, people who love Joss Whedon's Sci Fi oeuvre, yoga fanatics and nature lovers. I have been found by people who live locally and could potentially become real world friends. It's much more interesting to see a fully revealing profile when you are deciding whether to follow someone or not. I ALWAYS check out someone's profile first. If there is nothing in the profile, then I end up wondering just how interesting this person can be. Use this as the valuable real estate it is.
  
  
• Add your URL in the space provided. Pick your main website, Squidoo lens or personal blog. Add your Facebook or MySpace account if you don't have a blog. Show that you are involved in the greater online community. I will often follow these links back if someone interests me.
  
  
• Okay, we finally move away from your profile information. The next thing to do is make actual tweets. You want to see an entire page of micro messages on your home page before asking anyone to follow you. And yes, this does mean you will be talking to yourself for a few days. Post the kind of tweets people can expect from you, so that they can decide if they like your style. Tweet about things you are doing, your plan for the day, the music you are listening to, or your views on current events. Tweet popular movie quotes you like. Just start tweeting. Trust me. I never follow anyone with one or two posted tweets that say, "Just checking out Twitter," or "I don't know about Twitter, giving it a try." Lame. Be interesting; be yourself. Have fun with it. :-)
  
  
• Now for the best part - finding people to follow. Start with your friends, co-workers, acquaintances and people you somehow already know. See if your Facebook friends are on Twitter and get together as tweeps. Ask the people who post on your blog to follow you on Twitter, add your Twitter name to your signature in your emails and forums. In other words, let your own circle of peeps know you are on Twitter. Then start tweeting each other.
  
  
• Consider following people you see your own followers talking to. It's the "friend of a friend could be a friend" principle. Send them @replies and see if they talk back at ya.
  
  
• When you want to expand your network, do some Twitter searches. Look to see people's profile with shared interests. I have searched for and found people with yoga in their profile, for example. Your mutual interests can be just about anything. From the three million Twitter users around the world, chances are you can find people who love to knit, collect Christmas decorations, breed beagles, follow hurricanes, have autistic children or love Wal-Mart. Find these people and follow them. Often they will see your shared interests and follow you back. This kind of community building is what Twitter does best.
  
  

Overall, your best bet to creating a nice Twitter community for yourself is to be yourself. Be revealing. Share in conversations with people you don't know yet but find interesting. Twitter is a big cocktail party with people mingling from around the world. Have fun meeting and greeting!