Having a great link popularity is more than linking to anyone.
Obviously there are right ways and wrong ways of gaining the maximum link popularity. The right way is to approach sites that have a common theme with yours. For example, if your website is about "surfing" you wouldn't approach websites that might be about "realestate". Again the search engines put more weight in common theme linking.
If you decide that you want to set up some reciprocal links, it is best to look for sites that are in the same general category as your site, but probably not to link to your nearest competitors. The accepted method of obtaining reciprocal links is to use the search engines to find sites that you would like to link to, and then to send an email to the webmaster of that site, complimenting him on his site, and asking politely if he would like to set up a reciprocal link.
Now that you know that your link popularity isn't going to give you a high ranking in the search engines, what can we do to improve your Link Popularity? Approach popular websites and ask them to add you to their links page!