I think that's part of the G+ problem. I meet people at conferences and workshops and add them via G+, but otherwise I would have never had a chance. It's not at all visible externally.
I relied heavily on circle shares and frequent reshares in order to find the people I follow. A huge number of them came by way of the AI Class last year and maybe a third of the HN circle.
Nowadays, I circle specific people if (1) they circled me and look interesting, or (2) if I see interesting posts from them reshared a lot. I don't need more in my stream; I miss too much in it as it is.
