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Just when you think we’ve seen it all, a new social media application comes along and wham! it rocks the Internet, getting its founders into the digital Hall of Fame. When it seems the online arena is densely populated with huge corporations, is it still possible for you to come up with the next big thing on the Internet? Can your idea be the one that rocks the Internet?

There are so many factors at play, but I really enjoyed Robert Scoble’s recent post highlighting an interesting aspect of successful social media applications: addictiveness:

The social behavior incentive (how your app can be as addictive as Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare)

The basic idea is, make your application into a competitive game. Let your users work their way towards titles, figured and new records. Scoble provides some excellent detailed tips on how to achieve just that and do read the comments there as well – there some gems that complement the original post and inject more insights into building a great social media application/website.

I can think about many websites that implement this line of thought. Take Squidoo and Hub Pages, with their scoring systems; Social bookmarking sites with their voting system; Forums with the popular hacks for points, karma, or simply the user title ladder.

The rewards system works. We enjoy building our virtual social media profiles as if they were our character in WOW.  Keep it in mind if you want to get into the social media game and be “the next big thing”.

This post is not about increasing the number of your followers on Twitter. It is about how you can find interesting people to follow.

Now, mind you, I believe that finding cool people to follow on Twitter is actually the right way to gradually and organically grow your own following. Find people you have an interest in, interact with them, keep your own tweets interesting and non-spammy, and you will eventually grow a good solid community of Internet friends on Twitter.

So, how to find those interesting people to follow on Twitter? First, allow me to refer you to another post of mine, from the pre-B6S days, where I wrote about Who NOT to Follow on Twitter. When you find someone you may think you’d like to follow, scan their feed on their Twitter page and see if it really is someone you’d enjoy following.

Now all you need to figure out is where to find those people you may actually be interested in following. Here are my favorite sources -

1. Twitter Directories – there are quite a few directories and lists out there, trying to map Twitter accounts. Usually, unless they are niche directories, they list those people who have added themselves. Still, it’s better than nothing! Here’s a good list of Twitter directories by Cnet and another, more detailed review by Mashable, which also includes some niche directories.
2. Blogs – if you enjoy a blog, look for the Twitter icon somewhere on the page and follow the blogger. This can open up an entire new social circle on Twitter for you.
3. Mentions – if you see someone you follow mention another twitter user in a positive manner and an interesting context, simply click their username to view their profile and stream. Now you can choose whether to follow them or not.
4. FollowFriday – while looking for mentions, keep an eye open for the FollowFriday meme. Fridays is the day when some people to recommend other Twitter accounts to follow and add the hashtag #FollowFriday (or #FF for short). I make a point of clicking at least a few names every Friday.
5. Searches – every once in a while, when I feel like tweeting and interacting with people on something specific, I run a search for the term on Twitter itself. It can be a specific movie, TV show, a hobby, a book – you’d be surprised what might come up. These people may be very different, yet we know we have at least this one thing in common. I actually found this one to be one of the best ways to introduce brand new and interesting people into my stream.
6. Your Followers – last but not least, every once in a while, take a few moments to check on your latest followers. Don’t follow back automatically. You are likely to find quite a few bots and spammers, and even some people who only follow but never tweet. Still, there are gems in there. If they are interested in your tweets, chances are you two have something in common and their tweets may be of interest to you.

I hope this post will help you find new people to follow on Twitter. If you liked it, do follow me on both my accounts – @b6s where I tweet about webmasters topics and @israelimom where I share my everyday life.

I’ve started a Twitter account for my B6S persona here, in addition to my regular twitter account @israelimom.

http://twitter.com/bs6 – in case you want to follow me.

However, do not expect me to automatically follow back. I so don’t believe in feed bots accounts that follow other  just for the follow back. If you follow me and I don’t reciprocate, read my blog post about Who NOT to Follow on Twitter, posted earlier this year on my Israeli Mom blog.

When it comes to webmasters, keep in mind that you are dealing with, hopefully, a more sophisticated crowd. Spam just won’t work.

With that in mind, I’ve come up with a list of Twitter Do’s and Dont’s for Webmasters:

Do

• Read other people’s tweets.
• Interact and reply to tweets.
• Tweet your original thoughts and ideas about web development.
• Post links of interest with your own input injected into the tweet.
• Tweet about new blog posts and new projects, with a clear title or added explanation.

Don’t

• Spam with product offers – we all know where to look for products.
• Send out automated ads – if I see a tweet about teeth whitening I will block and possibly report spam.
• Add RSS feeds of other sites to your Twitter account. I know how to add Mashable and TechCrunch to my Reader, and I can follow them directly if I want to.
• Repeat the same tweets promoting your blog posts numerous times. Once or twice is enough.
• Post endless links with no input of your own – what’s the point?
• Post links with no text – smart people just won’t click them.
• DM people with offers or links. That is just pure spam.

I am on Twitter because I want to interact with fellow webmasters. I want to network. I want to learn new things. If your account does nothing but those things listed under “Don’t”, you can be pretty sure I won’t follow back.

I hope you join Twitter for the same reasons I did. It is both effective and fun when done right.