Twitter takes time. While running a client's handle I've found myself neglecting my own, yes, I'm on the brink of becoming a Lurker, and that led me to think about the wide range of engagement on Twitter.The Lurker: You can usually spot this one as they have an egg-shaped profile pic, no bio and usually under 10 tweets. There are a lot of Lurkers on Twitter. Lurkers can be valuable to some though because they are often there to listen.
Lazy Man's Twitter: You can spot this one a mile away. They have tied their Facebook account to their Twitter, they tend to only pump out their messages and rarely retweet or respond to anyone. Twitter has basically become their firehose. I'd take a Lurker over a Lazy Man any day. These types of Twitterers probably won't do you much good because they aren't in it to be an active participant in the Twittersphere, they are really in it for themselves.
Actively Engaged: This person is following others and being followed. They share relevant links, retweet others and reach out. In other words they play nicely on Twitter. These are gems. Follow them and interact with them. These folks can potentially help you spread your message, if it is one worth sharing, and raise awareness about you with their own followers.
Overly Engaged: These tweeters may appear way too often in your stream of tweets. You can probably recognize these people as the ones you contemplate unfollowing at least once a week. Their heart is in the right place, but they just don't know when to stop. Perhaps they're suffering from a bit of loneliness in the offline world? While irritating at times, these tweeters live to tweet and will most likely engage with you and provide an enlightening nugget from time to time. One out of every 100 tweets has got to be somewhat good right?
Did I miss a bucket? More importantly where do you see yourself along this engagement spectrum?