Despite all the buzz around Twitter, the first-run experience can be underwhelming because noobs generally don't follow very many people (or at least anyone really interesting). A Twitter stream filled with infrequent ephemera from the 3 institutionally introspective microbloggers you know hardly makes all the technology seem worthwhile. Finding interesting people to follow is the primary barrier noobs face when trying to realize the value of the service (students of technology will recognize this as a simple variant of Metcalf's Law).
Updates >> Followers
As you pump out the updates on Twitter, especially if your updates have some marginally useful information or are a thoughtful response to the posts of others, you'll find that complete strangers will begin to follow you. Protocol seems to dicatate that you, in turn, should follow these folks.
But, to put it bluntly, who is really worth your time to follow? If you choose a compulsive schmuck, your twitterstream will fill up with rapid-fire bursts about star trek tweet-ups or reflections on bodily functions. Who has the time for this?
If, on the other hand, you don't "return the follow", you've lost the chance to score ego points by boosting your follower count (let's be honest, its gotta be a point of pride for some that they have a few dozen, a few hundred, or thousands of followers just like your ratings on ebay).
What's a Twitter-er to do?
Twitter Could Do A Better Job of Helping You Decide Whether a Return Follow Is Justified
The current experience: When a person follows you twitter, you get a terse email notice from the system like this:
Pretty bland...no information whatsoever about who this person is, or if they would enhance your Twitter life.
You're faced with a decision to go check them out, and decide whether you should follow.
The Solution Already Exists
What can't the notification email include the new follower's profile info and their recent posts? Waay more useful! Its just protocol: a proper introduction like your mother would want.