Twitter. It's all the buzz, and I love manning the blogTO Twitter account. It's fun, interactive, resourceful, and transparent. It exposes realities that otherwise would never be realized (who knew that there were so many hydro problems) and puts us in closer contact with people who might otherwise not be as easily approached (I'm looking at you, bradttc, mayormiller, chrisbosh, and dcooler).

Like Facecrack, it's addictive. But it's also extremely useful, and represents so much more than just mundane or trivial "status updates". But what are people using it for? It's no secret that the Twitter landscape is dominated by social media "gurus" (whatever that means) and PR types aiming to promote their services. But peppered within the pie is meat.

True.. sometimes it's difficult to cut through the crust to find the filling. But rather than telling our readers who they should follow and why, I decided to seek out and ask some of the top Tweeters in Canada one straight-forward question.

At any given time, we can use Twitter Grader to scope out who is Twitter "elite" in Toronto, or in Ontario, or even in Canada. Using Twitter Grader, which uses some fancy math and algorithms to spit out Twitter "grades", I was able to reach out to Canada's "top" Twitter users (those with a perfect grade of 100). Granted, when I came back 30 minutes later, the list had shuffled a little (with some dropping below 100 and others popping up into the 100 club). Sorry to those that weren't there at just the right moment!

So without further ado, here are some of Canada's most prolific Tweeters, answering the question:

Why should I follow you?

Here are their responses, in 140 characters or less...

• "I don't really have a good answer for that one, actually -- I've never gone looking for followers, they just sort of showed up :-)"
  
  ~ Mathew Ingram aka mathewi (Toronto, ON) - Blogger, Communities Editor of the Globe and Mail

• "140 is an abundant number and a harmonic divisor number. Learn fast facts like this if you follow my 140-character tweets. That is all. -A"
  
  ~ Amber Macarthur aka ambermacarthur (Toronto, ON) - Tech TV journalist, web content strategist, brand new mom.

• "People say news robots on Tw aren't very exciting. But there is a person behind @cbcnews, so really it's a robot with a human brain. Awesome"
  
  ~ CBC News aka cbcnews (Canada) - Top stories, features and viewpoints from CBCNews.ca. (Edited by @johnbowman).

• "Follow people who inspire, or make you laugh, or teach, or link up great stuff. It's about whatever you want. I'm just having fun sharing."
  
  ~ Snook aka snookca (Ottawa, ON) - Maker of web stuff.

• "Because I'm not a bot and I make some damn fine hash browns! Also believed to speak some sense now and again ;-)"
  
  ~ Danny Brown aka dannybrown (Mississauga, ON) - Press releaser, charity fundraiser.

• "Useful info, news & shared links. My stream is nice mixed resource for those on and offline & is peppered w/personal tidbits & hockey scores"
  
  ~ Rebecca Bollwitt aka Miss604 (Vancouver, BC) - Blogger, podcaster, and social media empire grower.

• "Because 9 out of 10 doctors recommend it as a form of birth control. Easier than rhythm method, more fun than condoms & no funny aftertaste"
  
  ~ Catherine Connors aka herbadmother (Toronto, ON) - Bad Mother (and writer, blogger, and recovering academic).

• "follow me because you will be entertained."
  
  ~ Leesa Barnes aka leesabarnes (Toronto, ON) - Podcaster, marketing professional.

• "you shouldn't follow me unless you a) are patient and b) really, really
  want to, but then again c) not giving your cat back unless you do."
  
  ~ Meg Fowler aka megfowler (Vancouver, BC) - Writer, editor, brand girl, cook, klutz, shower singer, and hand talker!

• "At best you'll learn something, at worst you'll be offended but no matter what you'll always be entertained - never know what I'll say next!"
  
  ~ Rae aka sugarrae (Guelph, ON) - Internet marketing, Al Pacino quoter.

• "Cause you'll learn, laugh, and cry. Kinda like seeing Cats, without the intermission. Seriously, I'm here 24/7."
  
  ~ Scott Stratten aka unmarketing (Toronto, ON) - Speaker and Jedi of viral marketing

Photo borrowed from Wiki Commons and mashed.