Whether or not to follow users back on Twitter has been a subject of much debate. Some Twitter users feel that if they followed back every user who followed them, it would require too much work or that they wouldn’t be able to keep up with a large number of followers. I disagree and choose to follow back users who follow me.

Here are some reasons why you should consider following those who follow you on Twitter.

1. Let Them Know You’re Paying Attention

When someone chooses to follow you, they are interested in what you have to say. The hope is that many of your followers will become customers. With that in mind, following them back shows you’re paying attention. It shifts your business from broadcast mode on Twitter to a company that values its followers enough to pay attention.

For a great example, see @Comcastcares. As a cable provider, Comcast has improved its overall customer service ratings by following its customers back and responding to their questions and concerns directly on Twitter. This effort has shifted the perception about the company’s service and helped them to build a more loyal customer base.

2. Provide Social Currency

A follower on Twitter is a form of social currency. When someone follows you, you can repay the favor by following back. Everyone wants more followers on Twitter so the simple gesture of following back is a great way to show your thanks to those who follow you.

3. Learn About Your Followers

By following back, you receive a window into the conversations of your potential customers. You can learn what they are concerned about and what interests them. This can become valuable market research.

4. Support Your Followers

Start retweeting and acknowledging posts by your followers and you can build loyalty and personal connections with them.

5. Gain More Followers

Twitter places limits on how many people you can follow if you aren’t building your own following. That means that someone with 100 followers cannot follow 5000 companies. If you follow back you increase your chances of a follower choosing to follow you.

6. Simplify Monitoring

I’ve heard the argument that if you follow everyone back you can end up with thousands of people to follow, which can make your Twitter news feed look like it’s on overdrive. Yes thousands of followers can be a lot to manage, but you can simplify the process by using a tool like Tweetdeck to create a list of favorite people to follow. This makes it easy to monitor the news from followers who you want to stay close to, and still allows you to pop over look at your full news feed when time permits.

7. Save Time by Automating

Though it would be nice to view the profiles of every follower, it’s not realistic when your Twitter following climbs into the thousands. The good news is that you don’t have to manually follow each new follower; you can automate the follow back process with the free service from Social Oomph.

8. Manage Spammers (it’s not as bad as you think)

If you follow everyone back, you will inevitably encounter spammers. That’s a small price to pay when growing your network and all you need to do is delete them! If you use Tweetdeck to manage your Twitter activity, you can easily click a button to block and report spam. You can also locate spammers when reading your full news feed and simply remove them. This doesn’t have to be an overwhelming or time consuming problem.

What do you think? Share your comments or questions below!