There's an old saying: "Don't talk to strangers!"

But what about following them on Twitter? According to Joel Johnson, there can be real advantages to following complete strangers online:

One of the best things about Twitter is that, once you've populated it with friends genuine or aspirational, it feels like a slow-burn house party you can pop into whenever you like. Yet even though adding random people on Twitter is just a one-click action, most of us prune our follow list very judiciously to prevent tedious or random tweets to pollute our streams. Understandable! But don't discount the joy of discovery that can come by weaving a stranger's life into your own.

Beyond the joy of discovery, there may be other advantages. Writing at Wired.com, Jonah Lehrer says that following strangers on Twitter "can actually expand our creative potential."

For an upcoming episode of Spark, we talked to Joel and Jonah about the upsides of following strangers on Twitter. A shorter version of this story will air on an upcoming episode of Spark, but you can hear Nora's full, uncut interview with Jonah if you download the MP3. [runs 22:08]

If you like hearing these extended interviews, why not subscribe to Spark Plus? You'll get regular weekly episodes, plus additional blog-only content like this. [Subscribe via RSS] or [Subscribe with iTunes]