My Business Follower Numbers are Leaping up and Down.

Dear Cyber Sorter,
I’m a little perplexed :/
My business Twitter account normally picks up two to four followers a day. I like to thank them for the follow. Recently, though, my followers have jumped to 84 and then another 112 in two days. Great! Or is it?
I’ve checked as many as I can and they don’t seem to be spam. Could the trigger be that I recently hit the 1,000 followers mark?
I like the personal touch but feel I can no longer maintain it if this continues, what’s going to happen tomorrow, another 150? I’ve got work to do!
MLN

Dear MLN,
While it’s nice to acknowledge new followers it isn’t essential to having the personal touch. Replying to messages directed at you and following back those who retweet you is a more genuine way of connecting.
Your growth in followers could be down to others putting you on lists, which their followers then automatically follow.
It's worth installing an app, such as MyCleener to go through your follow list and delete any innactive accounts, that is thos who are following you who never tweet.
Check out 10 twitter Tools to Effectively Manage Your Followers from DailyBlogger.com
It may be time to consider hiring someone to monitor and manage you online presence – for goodness sake, treat it with some respect. Several very big companies have made the mistake of underpaying someone inexperienced in PR, used an intern to run their social media or ignored the sector entirely, only to find themselves in some seriously expensive PR doo dah.