Let me ask you a question. On Twitter, which of these is more important to you: getting a reply from somebody, or having them follow you back?

Most people would go with the latter, but it’s fundamentally wrong. And here’s why. Twitter is an open, public network. The reply mechanism works just as well whether I’m following you, you’re following me, or neither of us are following each other. A reciprocal follow is just a +1. Nothing more. The follow doesn’t make a lick of difference to the quality of the relationship.

Indeed, a follow, in and of itself, is essentially worthless.

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Twitter has started to roll out two new features on the Twitter.com homepage – also following and you both follow.

Both of these have just hit my account. You may have had them for a day or two now. Other accounts I’ve tested have yet to receive either implementation.

It’s a small change but a good one. Especially when checking out new accounts, it’s nice to see which of your existing contacts have already given them the seal of approval. Playing around with the feature I’ve actually been quite surprised about some of these revelations, especially in the ‘you both follow’ part.

What’s still missing is an indication of whether you’re being reciprocally followed (or not) by a user. Seems an obvious and pretty major oversight, and perhaps this will be added in the months to come.