I came across a real wasted opportunity today. A twitter profile with exactly two Tweets. One said “at work” (3 months ago) and the other, “bored” (21 months ago).

Three very uninteresting words in 21 months. And somehow, this person has managed to get 180 people following back. Not me, however. (Now, do you see why I think autofollow is pointless?).

Twitter is such a powerful tool! I’ve used it to connect and reach out, to learn about trends and issues, to amplify messages from people who are putting out great content, to build my network, to ask for advice and favors, to support people I wanted to do favors to, to give advice, to publicize events and products, to get speaking gigs and book sales, and simply to chat up with friends.

Of course, I’ve been doing social media for over a decade. I am very naturally comfortable in the Twittersphere after 15 years on e-mail discussion groups. My wife, novelist D. Dina Friedman, (@ddinafriedman) finds it a struggle, and limits her participation. But when she posts, she posts good stuff.

It’s possible my new follower is getting tons of value by lurking on over 900 Twitter feeds. But even if this person can’t think of anything to say, it would be only a couple of clicks to retweet messages that were especially compelling. Not to do so is leaving most of Twitter’s value on the table. In Twitter as in life, you gain much more value when you give as well as get.