by @jjbuss.

It’s hard to believe it has been almost 2 years since my first tweet.  Since then I’ve had the opportunity to meet a lot of great people inside and outside of my industry and profession, and publish a few blog posts on the topic.  A few examples include:

• Using Twitter to Recruit, Find a Job, or Network
• Using Twitter to Network and Find a Job
• Recruiting, Social Media, and Friends. Twitter Rocks!

Looking back the growth of twitter has been astounding.  In April of 2009, there were 1.5 billion tweets.  9 months later (as I write this) there are 7.6 billion tweets and counting.

Last February (2009) there were 900 profiles with the word “recruiter”.  Fast forward 2 months to April and it grew to 3,900.  Today there are 10,372!  There are also over 15,000 social media “experts” in case you hadn’t heard…

So with over 10,000 people with the word recruiter in their profile, who should you follow?

I would start with the 25 most influential recruiters on twitter, according to wefollow.  They include:

1. Shally Steckerl – @shally
2. Irina Shamaeva – @braingain
3. Glen Cathey – @BooleanBlackBlt
4. AIRS – @AIRSTraining
5. Steven Rothberg – @StevenRothberg
6. Jennifer McClure – @CincyRecruiter
7. Jerry Albright – @Jerry_Albright
8. Geoff Peterson – @GeoffPeterson
9. Stephanie Lloyd – @StephanieALloyd
10. Paul DeBettignies – @MNHeadhunter
11. Craig Fisher – @Fishdogs
12. Michael Long – @theredrecruiter
13. Ryan Leary – @ryanleary
14. Jim Durbin – @smheadhunter
15. Shannon Myers – @slcmyers
16. Sarah Peacey – @RecruitingTruth
17. Nikki G – @Recruitnik
18. Todd Kmiec – @toddkmiec
19. Dawn Mular – @DMular
20. Jeff Lipschultz – @JLipschultz
21. Rick Deare – @RickDeare
22. Peggy McKee – @salesrecruiter
23. Bruce – @RecruiterBruce
24. David Graziano – @DavidGraziano
25. Darryl Dioso – @DarrylRMSG

Sure, one could argue the other 9,000 recruiters haven’t registered their profile on wefollow (that’s their fault) or have chosen a different tag than recruiter.  Either way, you’ll be in great company with these 25 tweeps.