Choosing who to follow is part of cultivating your brand’s image. To look smart in the stream, who should you follow? Keep it simple and follow the cream of the crop:

1. Prominent thinkers in your space
2. Respected industry press
3. Companies doing exceptional work in related fields
4. Your big partners and potential partners
5. Your coolest customers
6. Your big side projects (we follow our good works project, @140Causes)

Note: If you find you want to keep track of accounts that wouldn’t reflect well on you (such as your direct competitors), follow those accounts with a private Twitter list or via a separate, unbranded account.

We advise brands to minimize the total number of people or companies they follow. We’ll explain more in a future post.

What’s your philosophy about who a brand should follow?