[bootload]

"... One of the best ways to find interesting people to follow on Twitter is to look and see who other smart people are already following ..."

There's could be a scientific explanation for this. It's been noted in fish, crustacean populations that behaviour is influenced by the predators. [0] Random choice appears to be non-optimal making decisions.

Following other HN twitter users might seen as a more optimal way to select ideas/technology worth exploring or avoiding "dangerous" time wasters.

[0] "Behavioural response of Crayfish to a fish predator", Stein, Magnuson ~ http://www.jstor.org/pss/1936188

[bootload]

There has also a lot of studies looking at this problem in Fish & Birds ~ http://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=mate%20choice%20copying&...

But the most interesting is how Women hunt in packs ~ http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/evolved-primate/201006/c... and more interesting how Men adapt to this.

[jmillerinc]

Gosh, I had to upvote this just for the crustacean research citation alone.

[korch]

I wish every reply was like this, thanks!