How To Use Twitter “Follow Friday” Effectively
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You’ve might have heard of Follow Friday or even seen the #FollowFriday hashtag flying about the Twittosphere, anywhere from Thursday through to Sunday, but did you know there is such a thing as #FF etiquette?
Follow Friday started with one tweet by @Micah in mid January which read:
“I am starting Follow Fridays”. ”Every Friday, suggest a person to follow, and everyone follow him/her”. ”Today its @fancyjeffrey & @wiredone “.
Micah stated, “I started #followfriday to highlight our friends we are proud of”.
Since #FF developed an almost cult like participation, I’ve noticed a growing trend of people sending a bunch of tweets simply listing bulk names like this: @joeblog @maryjoe @janesmith @friend4 @friend5 @friend6 #FollowFriday.
I don’t know about you but I would be unlikely to want to follow someone just because they were one of a bunch of names. At the very least it shows that you are not recommending anyone in particular for any valuable reason and at worst, this can come across as spam!
So what is the most effective way to use Follow Friday?
Just like paying someone a compliment through using the Retweet, the same goes for Follow Friday. Pay the person a compliment by giving people a reason to follow them.
Instead of (@friend1 follow this great person #FollowFriday) or (@friend1 @Friend2 etc #FF).
Simply recommend one friend at a time with something like (@friend1 provides simple, fun tips for growing your Network Marketing business through Facebook groups #FollowFriday). Or (@friend2 she has been an absolute inspiration with her awesome blogging secrets #FollowFriday). If you’re really wanting to create a relationship with a particular person, try including a URL to one of their recent blog posts.
Being generous with your Tweets will reward you enormously, The Law of Reciprocity guarantees it!
I have to admit that one of the reasons I was late to the #FF party, was come Friday, I found I just didn’t have time to go through all my Twitter pages to check who had recently mentioned me in a Tweet etc that I wanted to return the favor too. Well recently, I found a really cool tool that solves that problem: The Twitter Tag Project
Basically you just enter your Twitter username and it will scan your last 200 Tweets for names of people you’ve had contact with and display the results like this: #FollowFriday @friend1 @friend2 @friend3.
Although I don’t recommend using the ‘tweet this’ feature for Follow Friday, what I love about this site is that with the push of a button, it will show you who you’ve had mentions from or interaction with in a simple, one page format.
If you have any fun, simple Follow Friday tips, feel free to post your comments below.
Catch you on Friday @Michaele_H :-)
Thanks Michaele for this great information. I will certainly be #FF you this @profitbeingyou
Great work on your blog!
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This a great idea Michaele, I was wondering how to vary FF
You have explained this very well
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Wow Michaele, great site, am suitable (very) impressed xxx
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Thank you Michaele, you have enlightened me on the follow friday etiquette.
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Michaele Reply:
October 22nd, 2009 at 7:10 pm
Thanks everyone. It seemed like a bit of a crazy waste of time with the way some people were doing #FF so I wanted to get something out there :)
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Fantastic information – Thanks Michelle.
I keep a Google Docs spreadsheet that I add tweeps to all week as I interact and then use this information to speed up my #Follow Friday recommendations.
Using the ‘Twitter Tag Project’ to get the data all at once, pasting this into the spreadsheet and then personalising this (instead of sending the long name lists) – is going to be a huge time saver and help me to not miss anybody.
Just awesome – Cheers
Zoe
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Michaele Reply:
November 15th, 2009 at 10:18 pm
Thanks Zoe,
It’s all about leverage combined with personal interaction.
Your spreadsheet has also been an awesome idea for keeping track.
Most of the feedback we seem to get re social media is about the amount of time people are spending and not getting anywhere.
These tools, used correctly make all the difference!
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Hi Michaele. I am new to this tweeting. I signed on to twitter ages ago and then forgot about it. It was only because I didn’t fully understand how it worked. In the last week and a half I have spent many hours working out how to use it after reading other helpful people’s tweets like yours. Thank you for showing me how to interact on twitter better. I am amazed that with only having been seriously looking at twitter for the last ten days that I have already amassed over 600 followers. You can well imagine that when I read your information it came at a timely point for me a newbie on the block. Bless you and I look forward to following your tweets.
Thank you
Lucky
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Michaele Reply:
November 15th, 2009 at 10:29 pm
Lucky, thanks so much for your feedback. Sounds like you have a pretty good grip on Twitter already. I absolutely love Twitter for many reasons but it is a Social Media site that sometimes takes a while to ‘get’. I have watched people do launches on Twitter worth several hundred thousand dollars. It’s definitely worth spending the time to pay attention to.
Watch this space as I’ll have a tutorial up and running soon!
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Hi Michaele,
I always wondered what Follow Friday was all about! Thanks for explaining it and giving tips on how to do it correctly. Can’t wait until Friday :)
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Michaele Reply:
January 9th, 2010 at 3:46 pm
Hey Jennifer,
I’m glad you found it useful. It sure does take more time to do #FF this way but it goes a long way towards building relationships.
Catch you on Fridays :)
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I like the article and can relate to your reasoning but overall disagree. I think when you single out just one or two of your closest friends that others feel left out and even alienated. Especially if they were also worthy via their level of participation. I #FF those the interact with me the most. To me, if you interact, respond and contribute you are worthy. If you know many people who fit those three criteria than you have many worthy of a #FF.
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Michaele Reply:
February 9th, 2010 at 2:33 pm
Hey Rob,
Thanks for your comment. I guess everyone has their own ‘thing’ when it comes to #FF.
I tend to single out and highlight people that have stood out for me during the course of the week. So over time, I don’t really leave anyone out because I mix it up. If I miss someone one week, I try and make sure I #FF them the following Friday.
I especially like to use it to highlight someone who has been helpful during ‘that’ particular week :)
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Very good post Michaele!
I didn’t know that site existed until you mentioned it. Thanks for that! I am deff going to have to use that.
I also agree with the point you made about suggesting bulk friends to follow. I thnk we are starting to outgrow that phase of the game and it is no longer accepted.
Thanks again for contributing!
Justin
Justin Glover´s last blog ..How To Make Money Online In As Little As 1 Hour From Right Now!
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Hi Michaele,
There are many things that cause leaders to stand out from the crowd. One is certainly manners!
Leaders learn to avoid doing things that turn potential and prospective business partners off. Frankly, those who spam just haven’t been taught proper etiquette. You are providing a most valuable service by passing this along to people who are anxious to get good results.
Thanks for your insights.
Joe
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Michaele Reply:
March 6th, 2010 at 9:04 pm
Joe,
You are spot on re manners!
I must admit since writing this post that I’ve had so many people complain that they don’t have the time.
We all have the same 24 hours in a day and I too don’t have the time to individually highlight people every Friday.
Having said that, when I’m pushed for time rather than send a meaningless #FF tweet, I just bow out for that week :)
Michaelé
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Thanks Michaele.. Great information and a post everyone should read. As Twitter becomes more and more popular, people aren’t aware that there is a right way and a wrong way to post. This information should be very helpful to anyone who is still a little confused.
Appreciate the post and have a wonderful day!
Adrienne
Adrienne´s last blog ..Creating a Twitter Background
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