When the social networking, microblogging site Twitter made its debut, for many users, the idea was to get as many followers as possible. In 2009, Ashton Kutcher raced against CNN to see who could reach one million followers first and even today users are encouraged to help out newbies with the ?please check him out and follow him? tweet by influencers. However, is having many followers really a good idea for the average Twitter user? According to Robin Dunbar and others, the answer is no; because once you go past 150 followers, the social experience begins to deteriorate.</p> <p>Robin Dunbar, the creator of ?Dubar?s Number? is a British anthropologist who has done extensive research into the maximum number of people with which an individual can maintain a strong social relationship. According to Dunbar, ?this limit is a direct function of relative neocortex size, and that this in turn limits group size [?] the limit imposed by neocortical processing capacity is simply on the number of individuals with whom a stable inter-personal relationship can be maintained?.</p> <p>Recently, experts and analysts have been applying Dunbar?s Number and his studies to social networking and have determined that for Twitter and Facebook, 150 is ideal. Included in this endeavour is Indiana University who took the test to Twitter, looking at over 380 million tweets and analysing user behaviours. The results were in support of Dunbar?s Number, with findings showing that the average user can follow 100 ? 200 others before becoming overwhelmed.<br />