Are all my followers on Twitter bots and spam?

So I have about 35 followers and I always tweet stuff like "what is everyone up to today?" and even send some direct messages but no one ever answers me, even if the message is asking something direct. Is this because they're spam and only respond if my tweet mentions something specific? How can I get rid of the spam followers? It upsets me that people are following me if all they want is to sell their crap to me. I thought the purpose of Twitter was to keep up with friends.