Last week we got all excited talking about Twitter and how to manage your followers to following ratio, when it dawned on us that we should probably shut our pie holes and let you get on with your day because we’re super considerate like that.

So, we saved our discussion on followers/following and Klout scores (which we’ll explain later for those of us who have yet to be initiated) for today since not only should you be cleaning out your Twitter feed, you sometimes need to keep yourself in check.

As we’ve told you before, you can’t just fly by the seat of your pants on Twitter and expect to get good things out of it (then, you’d just be a twit). So, take a good hard look at yourself and see if there’s anything you should change about your own Twitter behavior.

Have you examined your following to followers ratio lately?  How many followers do you have?  How many people are you following?  This ratio is important because it says a lot about you as a tweeter and it’s a publicly displayed metric people use to help them decide whether or not to follow you. So, pay attention. It’s kind of a big deal.

The best kind of ratio to have is a 10.0 ratio, or 10 following to 100 followers. If you’ve got that, you must be Charlie Sheen! What are you doing reading our blog, Charlie Sheen? Go back to your Tiger’s blood, dude!  You don’t need to read our blog anymore because a lot of people follow you and find you…interesting!  WINNING!

Seriously though folks, this kind of following grows organically over time. So, it’s something we’re all working toward. You can’t force it, not even if you’re a warlock with fire breathing fists! That said, when some people come across a ratio like this, they might think you’re not a “true” tweeter because you’re not being very social and following all of your followers back. Really though, you can’t follow everyone. That’s ridiculous. So follow who you want to follow and don’t worry about the haters. Just go on with your bad self, Charlie.

A 1.0 ratio means 100 following and 100 followers. This, at first, looks easy to achieve if you employ the “I’ll follow you if you follow me” tactic, but for every person you follow; only a fraction of those will actually follow you back. This ratio implies a more reciprocal relationship between the people you are following and those who follow you. There’s a nice interaction between two equals who are getting to know one another that’s implied with this kind of ratio.

A 0.1 ratio or, 100 Following, 10 Followers is not so good. If you’ve got this kind of lopsided ratio, check your pulse. You might be a bot!  Nobody is going to follow you back with this kind of ratio for fear of being spammed to death. Sure, your friends who know you will follow you, but other than some random spammers, that’s probably it.

So, what is the ideal ratio for people who aren’t warlocks like Charlie Sheen?

Well, that changes actually. It should be in the range of 1.0 if you want to grow your Twitter following. Anything above that shows you might be a boring tweeter. And anything below that range may indicate that you don’t care who follows you and you may not follow them back. So, if you’re Charlie Sheen, you can totally get away without following anyone and people will still hang on your every tweet, but that almost never happens, so you have to play by the rules just like the rest of us mere mortals.

So, keep an eye on that ratio and you’ll be all good in the Twitterhood.

But, what about this Klout business we mentioned earlier?

Well, since we’re pretty sure you’ve already stopped paying attention (except you, Charlie. We know you hang on our every word…) we’ll save Klout for next week.