Is there any point to follow friday on Twitter?

Posted on by Mark

latest followfriday photo

Every Friday, it starts the #followfriday tweets. If you are not sure what #followfriday is, then this article that I wrote called-  what is #followfriday will help you.

My question though is.. does it work? is it of any value?

Recently Scott Stratten aka @unmarketing did a video about what he thinks of #followfriday and how he is now doing his own thing called – #followfive – you can watch the video here —>>#followfive video

I think that Scott has some excellent points.. When #followfriday first started, it seemed an excellent way for people to refer others to their top people that they enjoyed to follow, and that provided them with great value to their day.

The idea that we connect others to people that we know, like and trust, is what networking in all its many forms is all about. So I think the sentiment was correct, and something that I have been proud to take part in.

However, what has #followfriday actually become? It has become, simply a mass list of tweets, with people simply adding what looks like their entire kitchen sink of followers.

No thought, no reasons why, and by mentioning pretty much everyone in their followers list, no singling out of really exceptional people.

So I think that #followfriday has sort of lost its way, so how can we make it better?, what steps would I encourage you to take when considering your next #followfriday recommendation.

1. Only list 1 person per message, and really explain what it is about that person that makes you refer them, and why we may want to follow them as well.

2. Don’t automate the process – be selective, and limit the number of #followfriday receommendations to say 10 per Friday.

3. Don’t recommend yourself from your other accounts, or indeed add your name to the list of recommendations.. I think that this is tacky…

4. Perhaps you may want to consider adding your #followfive in a similar way to @unmarketing which is cool and different

5. You may want to consider adding your #follow friday recommendations on your blog, giving a good write up for each, and then directing all the people there to take a look. This is a great example here –>> The famous five of Twitter

So in conclusion, I personally dont think #followfriday is a waste of time, infact to the opposite, done correctly it can provide a great resource of highly recommended people to check out and possibly to start following.

So what are your experiences? Have you had any benefit from doing #followfriday every week? Have you found any new people as a result of seeing someone recommended, or do you think that due to the way that people are using it, that it has lost much of its usefulnes..

  • http://www.thewordwell.co.uk Nikki Cooke (The Word Well)

    Everyone has their own style of doing things, I guess. Personally, I find the time to tweet about chosen individuals, giving a personalised reason why other tweeps should follow my recommendations.

    Weeks ago, I started off by tweeting a list of 5 tweeple. Now, I use the individual approach as it’s more personal and interesting for my followers to read. Just reading a list doesn’t ‘engage’ the recipient. Conversational comments give a better experience for readers.

    I have gained followers as a result of Follow Friday and I’ve chosen to follow others who were recommended to me. However, I always check out people I follow first. If they look interesting, I follow them. If after a few weeks, those people don’t engage or tweet even, I unfollow.

    Interestingly, most of my followers ‘don’t’ do Follow Friday. Friday is such a manic day for a lot of people. Maybe it’s just not the most appropriate day?

    Could always try Tag along Tuesday or Stalk Saturday, I suppose! ;-)

  • http://www.frontline-results.com LouiseBJ

    Well said Mark! I agree that #followfriday has lost its way somehow. After a few weeks of watching tweets listing so many people to follow, I felt guilty at only suggesting a handful of names. It’s no longer a fun thing to do.

    Your post has helped me to decide to do my own thing, like @unmarketing, but different!

  • http://www.pimlico-flats.co.uk Nick

    I agree – there is no point to #FF most people that I follow recommend people I follow anyway, and I tend to find follows from Retweets rather than #FF

    http://twitter.com/pimlico_flats/

  • http://www.foodforfriendsyeah.co.uk matt

    I realise this is an old article, but I still think it holds true. I was wondering what the point of #FFs are if people just add a big list of followers!

    Off to see if #followfive is still alive…

  • http://www.jam.co.uk James Millman

    You probably already know what I am going to say. However, whilst i agree in principle with the follow friday and a sound reason for one person, I recently had ten follow friday recommendations including one from your goodself. The total increase of followers that day was 1.

    Although I was extremely grateful for the recommendations from you and some other great people, I simply do not believe people really care as Friday twitter stream is full of endless follow fridays.

    Perhaps if everyone limited themselves to just one follow friday recommendation per week then the stream would be less populated and it would be easier to check out the recommendations for peeps.

    That though is unlikely and therefore I will continue to have a moan about follow friday now and then.

    Cheers,
    James