it takes a lot of backbone to admit to being timid. So you earned a PROTIP! :D Open your notepad and write a nice, fairly generic welcome to new minnows comment and save it. Then when you go "fishing" for new friends in the introduceyourself minnow pool, you can just cut and paste it, though I usually add some personalization to every single one. AND DONT misuse this power. Actually WANT to follow the person. I replied on average to about one out of five intro posts. People who actually entertained me introducing themselves. I skipped ones in languages I don't speak, because I'll never be able to read them anyway in the future and the ones that put no effort into it at all. But if you were real, and legit and tried to earnestly introduce yourself, you got my immediate follow. I can't wait to see what some of these fine folks produce!

Here is the message I use and tweak with each new use of it, for inspiration:

Welcome to steemit! I like to follow people all over the world, of all different ages. I read introduction posts and follow people who seem legit and real! You totally seem interesting! Following you to learn more about the world you live in and how you see it from your local perspective! I hope you will check out my posts too now and then!- @sircork - I've up voted and followed you!