Confessions of a Six Figure Professional Blogger

Follow Friday Is Useless

September 18, 2009 | Social Media

OK, perhaps I should modify that statement by saying that it is useless the way most people engage in it.

On Twitter, a social tradition has popped up. Every Friday, you will see people tweeting out bunches of Twitter usernames, often with the hashtag #followfriday or #FF. Here is just a random image of Twitter search:

Picture 5

I don’t know any of these people. But, this is USELESS. Full tweets with nothing but a big long list of usernames. I wouldn’t follow any of them!

Personally, I don’t really participate in Follow Friday because I find the above practice to be annoying. But, here is how you would fix it. Follow these rules:

  1. Do not just recommend people randomly. Do so because you sincerely think that person would be of interest to your followers.
  2. Do not – I repeat, DO NOT – tweet a list of usernames. Instead, recommend ONE person with a clear reason for WHY we should follow that person.

You know, LinkedIn has a cool feature where you can post endorsements of other people. It works very well. Why not apply the same logic to Twitter? Let’s make a #followfriday recommendation mean something, shall we?

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  • Totoally agree there is so much of this stuff going on in twitter that it has become redundant i have had to go in manually to remove all kinds of direct messages from spammers.
  • webpagelottery
    I am getting a lot of spammer everyday now on twitter. I have to manual delete them.
  • I totally agree. I've never participated and didn't like the concept from the start. But I do think it can work well if done like you suggested, where you simply suggest a person to follow along with a reason. I'd be much more interested in a tweet that says something like "If you enjoy photography, you should really follow blank." It sure beats seeing tweets with 10 usernames and nothing else.
  • Thanks for saying that, I get the same thing just I could not figure out what they were doing. Immature people with nothing to do
  • I've never participated in the FollowFriday activity, partly because it seemed a little like a popularity contest and partly because I never fully understood it or pursued that understanding.
    Come to think of it, I guess I never really cared that much about it.

    I'm not against it, but it does seem sensible to make a single recommendation with a solid reason. My Fridays, like most others, are spent trying to become a better blogger and reach the next level.
  • I am still not a big Twitter user yet, but am starting to get into it slowly. Follow Friday definitely seems like a waste of time and energy to me. I have been very picky about the people I follow so far and that makes no sense following random people. What good will come out of it?
  • Yes, I've only recommended two people in the past two months on FollowFriday. It clogs Twitter up. I've seen some users literally recommend hundreds of people in several tweets in a row. I normally unfollow them.
  • Yes I don't get it need to spend some time doing some serious pruning of my twitter tree but I got better things to do. I think you could post something every day if you wanted to about pointless tweets.
  • I do not read French, but it appears that @MarieAmelie provided a little more detail in her suggestions. And it's certainly acceptable to mention multiple people around a particular theme, as long as you actually state what the theme is (#biometrics, #lutheran, whatever).
  • Hi, thanks for noticing my tweet.
    Yes, I always try to explain why I recommand someone. And you're right: using a # would be better. I'll try to use it.... next week!


    (apologies for my misakes... It would be better in French ;) )
  • Marie, no apology necessary. My division was just acquired by a French company in April, so I *should* be familiar with French...
  • I totally agree with suggestion number 1. But I'm not so sure that I agree with #2 completely. While I don't like the never-ending lists of people, I would say two or three in a list would be acceptable. The theory behind it is if you follow rule #1, then your followers will probably appreciate the people you list.

    I also look at it like this. I've got about 10 people in my follow list that I highly recommend people following. And I don't do it every Friday (only whenever I think about it). So, if you don't list the same 10 people every week, and you choose to list only good quality people (Rule #1 again), it shouldn't be an issue if you list more than one.

    Just my .02 worth which probably will earn me some change for the value ;-)
    Patrick.
  • I agree that a tweet with nothing but @soso is useless. It should be more like the MrTweet app where you recommend someone to follow and you have to give a reason why this person should be followed.

    Wishing you a scent-sational day!
    Patty
  • Couldn't agree more. Although I don't mind seeing my name listed, I rarely take the time to follow people via #FF recommendations. I think it is more of a "scratch my back and I'll scratch yours" type of thing.
  • Amen
  • David I couldn't agree more. Months and months ago I noticed how obnoxious this was and just how little value it was.

    This is how silly mashing a bunch of twitter names together is:

    Imagine walking into a room to network with people and either dumping a load of cards in a persons hand of "recommendations." You don't know them, you have no idea if the "recommendation" has any merit or value to them and you walk off.

    It's ridiculous.

    Here is the $3 Million Dollar Question:

    If you wouldn't do it in a real life situation why would you do it in an online social environment?
  • That's exactly what I started doing a couple of months ago. One follow Friday per week, with a solid and understandable reason why my followers should follow that person. The feedback I've had from the followees (?) is that they get a real jump in their followers as a result.

    PS I followed you onto Disqus comments - very, very happy with them.
  • Hi David.

    I agree with you here David. #followfriday has become a bit cluttered.

    Here is some info I have posted previous in relationship with #followfriday.

    Try something new when introduce your friends on #followfriday;

    #followfriday Hi, I would like to introduce @newfriend. He/She will share info regarding #blogging

    The info I will pick up from their bio. If they have build up a great bio they will have their niche mentioned there. This gives you the opportunity to

    1. recommend your friend
    2. introduce his/her niche
    3. show your followers that you care about quality relationship building
    4. show your new friend that you are one that really care and want to build a quality relationship

    If you use #followfriday the right way you will be able to attract new quality followers that you can build a great relationship with.

    I hope also there will come new additions to Twitter that make it easier for us to endorse people that provide quality info. My thoughts goes towards a Twitter Social Bookmark option, where you can organize favorite tweet/tweeter within groups/subjects. And then together with your endorsement you can back that up with share some of the quality info they provide.. (just an idea...)

    Cheers.. Are
  • I couldn't agree more. On the other hand, #TravelTuesday has gained traction and it has become a great way to share follow-worthy Tweeters (even if they are just a list of names....as long as you trust the person tweeting them)
  • I totally agree! I only give #FF recognition to REAL people who have actually chatted with me on Twitter recently. I even occasionally do a short "Follow Friday" blog posts like this one: http://bit.ly/gukiH
  • lol, yeah same here. I think I tried it one day and was like "nope, don't like it"
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