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Rethinking Follow Friday on Twitter #FF

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I dread Twitter on Fridays. Absolutely dread it. Because my entire follow stream and @ replies are filled with string after string of Follow Friday recommendations.

For those of you wondering what I’m talking about, Follow Friday or hashtag FF, is a ritual where tweeters send out tweets listing users who they feel should be followed by their follow-base. For example see pic above ^

The Flaw in Follow Friday

The fundamental flaw in this annoying habit is these tweets provide absolutely no value to anyone.

Who are these people? Why should I follow these people? And now that I’m thinking about it, who are you & why should I trust you with this random recommendation?

And don’t get me started on those who RT the #FF saying thanks, therefore sending the same message to the half dozen people again.

Put in other words, when you string together a bunch of random twitter usernames, no one knows why they should follow these strangers.

My Cure to the Follow Friday Addiction


Instead of listing tweeters in such an ambiguous manner, take a step back and look at what you’re trying to accomplish. You would like your followers to follow a few tweeters who you adore. And you want to spread the love through this #FF ritual.

So why not take the first 120 characters of the tweet to say why anyone would want to follow one user, then list their username and the FF hastag. And if you have five or six people you’d like to share, split them up into five or six tweets.

For example:

You see the difference between this tweet and the tweet up top?

To Summarize

If you want to participate in the Follow Friday ritual, please, please, please, please, please, please, please add value!

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Continue the Conversation:

  • http://blog.buylocalwausau.com Michael Martens

    The #FF trend has certainly become a role call of favorite Twitter followers. I always fear that I will forget someone when I do the the ritual #FF. I like the idea of focusing on the value of a person’s tweets and acknowledging them with a Friday Follow.

  • http://www.bradleygauthier.com Bradley Gauthier

    yes, the trend has become ritualistic. The problem with rituals is they become an afterthought – something we simply do out of necessity and not something we think to deeply into.

    Thanks for the comment, Michael!

  • http://knitfreedom.com Liat

    I was just wondering what the heck this meant! And I will be sure to set a better example and be easier on my readers using this new technique. Thanks SO much for this timely tip!

  • http://www.bradleygauthier.com Bradley Gauthier

    yeah, a lot of people don’t know what #ff means… I often see it on random Tuesdays or they’ll shout out a “#ff Sunday!”, those tweets make me laugh

  • http://twitter.com/wordnrrrd Jeremy

    Excellent article. I’m particularly tiring of people who send multiple #ff tweets every Friday, basically listing every single person they follow.