Two things happened in my Twitterverse to make Twitter a much, much better tool for me.

Who to Follow/Also Followed By

Whenever I got an e-mail alerting me to a new Twitter follower, I’d click through and scan the person’s Twitter profile. I’d read the bio, follows and follower numbers, and the last few tweets, maybe even how many lists the person belonged to.

But what I really wanted to know was – who else follows this person? What circles of influence does s/he run in? Where was the social proof that guided me into following this person back because she’s a valuable source of information and conversation, or chalking her up as a Twitter user on Miracle-Gro?

There’s not quite enough in the profie to tell you if the person was worth following. (I do not auto-follow and do not recommend it.)

Twitter tried to do the suggested user thing a while back. It hand-picked users, bestowed upon them the enviable “suggested user” title and POOF! That person’s followers went through the roof. Lucky for them. Just slightly useful for us.

Previously you had to dig down a few levels to get to those suggested users. Most suggestions were extraordinarily lame. They did not reflect subjects and keywords in my bio, my location, what I tweet or who I follow. I peeked once or twice and never looked back.

A few weeks ago Twitter unveiled a “Who to Follow” right on your home page. You have to log into Twitter to see it (not working in Twitter client Hoosuite):

Now we are cooking!

Twitter’s suggestions look at mutual followers — who among my followers also follows this person. Most of us have grown accustomed to this kind of feature on Facebook and it’s very useful for gauging incoming friend requests.

This tells me what kind of circles that person runs in. I have a number of different themes in my stream – nonprofit, technology, Hudson Valley, Rhinebeck (well before Chelsea Clinton decided to get married here I might add) and food-ag-gardening. How does this person fit into my interests?

I also get a lot of social media “ninjas,” “gurus” and “rockstars” because I like to share Facebook pages, Twitter and other social media tips when I can. Nothing will attract social media gnats like talking about social media on Twitter.

I digress.

Hootsuite to the Rescue

Previously I used Seesmic to manage Twitter. Before that, Tweetdeck. Both are fine choices for managing multiple presences – Twitter, Facebook, Facebook pages.

Hootsuite has three pieces of magic that these others do not.

Drafts. Such a simple concept, but so necessary if you want to be disciplined about social media. Sometimes, the thought, the Tweet, the status update, should stay in the oven a little longer. It’s not done. Perhaps it’s edible, but not quite where it needs to be.

Scheduling. This has been a revelation. No more shotgun approach. I can plan ahead for days and weeks! For now I’m just giving myself a breather by spacing out my status updates and tweets, and doing a better job assigning the right communications to the right channels. This will come in quite handy as I do more Twitter campaigns were we draft the communications well in advance and time them with blog posts, e-mails and key campaign dates.

Teams. I’m an admin for a dozen or more Facebook pages for clients and friends. Hootsuite lets me coordinate with those teams within one application. It’s a thing of beauty.

Twitter is much more manageable and interesting now thanks to Hootsuite and the new Who to Follow and Also Followed by features.

Do you have a Twitter epiphany to share? Let me know in comments.