Knowing someone follows me makes it more likely that I will follow them. It doesn't guarantee it - my standards for following someone include them posting a fair amount of original links, not just personality based on what they share - but I do figure if someone follows me and I interact with them regularly, and key here is that both parameters are met - then I'm much more likely to check out whether I want to follow them by clicking through to their profile. Because the other thing is I don't share everything I read or comment on on Hubski. I only share what I think is really, really good. So it turns out I've read several articles b_b has posted recently, even though - turns out - shared none of them! Now following b_b. Partially because I saw his name was green and figured, hey, I know b_b! He's cool! Do I want to follow him? He's following me. Let's click through and find out.