My wife recently started her own blog, about weddings of all things. As you would expect I’ve been helping her get started and part of that process involves teaching her about Twitter.
Within a few days of using Twitter, in fact the first Friday after, I noticed her send out a #FF (Follow FrIday) tweet with about five or six names attached. She of course was oblivious to my thoughts on the matter, but that was enough for me to raise my argument against the blasted things.
First and foremost, the entire Follow Friday routine is tiresome. Yes it had good intentions when it was started by @micah back in 2009 (this is the first FF tweet) but it’s since just lost its purpose and value.
To find this spam-like tweet amongst a stream of (usually) interesting news and status updates is frustrating and a waste of my time, literally. I’d bank on the fact that I waste more time at work on Fridays than any other day because of distracting and ultimately pointless FF tweets. I’d hoped Twitter lists might have just eradicated the ritual entirely but unfortunately that wasn’t to be the case – they still live on.
Assuming they are in fact here to stay, lets set two ground rules:
1) If you’re going to Follow Friday someone, make it just ONE person per #FF tweet per week.
The idea behind Follow Friday is to share a recommendation with your followers in the hope that more people follow that person.
Who really clicks the usernames of people included in these mass FF tweets? Not many I’m sure. I guarantee you I’d click on many more if they just included one person and that person had been carefully selected as that weeks Follow Friday.
Another reason for a Follow Friday tweet is that the person you’re recommending to your followers acknowledges your tweet and is flattered or appreciative.
Quite honestly, whoever feels flattered to be included amongst five other people in a tweet – and probably about twenty other people in other FF tweets that day from the same person – needs a hug. Your Follow Friday wants to feel like you’ve singled them out, you’ve thought just about them, don’t ruin it by including them in a stack of others.
The same principle applies to thanking people via email. What do you think a person would appreciate receiving more; a mass email or an email written just to them?
A side effect of posting more than one Follow Friday tweet is that your Twitter profile is going to look like spam-city when a potential follower sees it full of crappy useless #FF tweets. People want personality and relevant useful information, not a blast of Follow Friday tweets. No matter how interesting you’ve been during the days before, a stream of rubbish won’t bring you more followers, I assure you.
On a related note, did you know there are tools that actually automate the whole Follow Friday process? They actually send out tweets every Friday including the names of people you’ve conversed with most. No, I’m not linking to them.
2) Say why you recommend them.
With all the space you’ve got left in that tweet of yours, fill it up with a simple and complementary explanation as to why everyone should be following them. Don’t go over the top with it, keep it simple and concise and explain why others will benefit from following them.
3) Just do it Friday.
If you absolutely have to do them, and you follow the above ground rules, please keep them to Friday. You’d be surprised how many people decide Saturday, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday are all good days for Follow Friday’s.
Ok rant over, that’s all I have to say on the topic.. Are you with me?
i completely agree, zee. #FF loses its value whenever people mass tweet about it to a point that it looks like spam. i don’t even know why they are worth following in the first place.
If you dont like how a person tweets, just unfollow them! It’s not like you are forced to
@jean-francois dubé it’s not just about who I follow – it’s about the people that mention me in the tweets – i can’t ignore them.
@jean-francois dubé There’s also the fact that unfollowing your wife is considered n incredibly bad idea.
@Zee ah, OK, in relation to my comment here, I must admit I’m not so popular to have faced this problem. But I would say, it’s a high-class problem you’re grappling with there.
@Brad McCarty Ha ha ha ha….
I also agree completely. I remember when it first started and it was awesome, heartful and selective. Now it’s like they go down the list and just start putting a group of random people, most of which are not interesting at all (and usually with SEO in their description). I don’t take part in Twitter near as much as I use to as it seems to be losing what it first started out as. Sadly I can’t even find anything to take its place either.
I don’t agree. Forget about one person. Forget about why. Forget about sticking to Fridays. FF shouldn’t exist at all. It’s so annoying. And what’s up with people who just retweet entire FF tweets? Again, annoying.
If twitter allowed to filter out tweets, #ff would be on the list.
Only On Friday Do This , Obviously Keep Your Ethics http://goo.gl/FexS0
You can filter anything you want with Proxlet Tweet Filter for Chrome.
I stopped initiating Follow Friday tweets when Twitter Lists came out. My Paper.li “you’ve been featured” may be equally annoying but at least they have content. Yes it seems rude not to thank people for their #FF especially if they’ve been selective and actually said something about the group they are tweeting. I strongly agree that a good #FF is about one person and contains a reason to follow them. I know it is so hard to make these choices but can we all please just assume at this point that our other followers will not be insulted that they didn’t get an #FF that day?
I agree with you I do hope this practice dies.
Big yes for this recomendations!:) other option is not to ff at all. Now lets punish all those who spam our streams:)
Never thought I’d write this, but: in defence of Follow Friday:
a) some people like to use Follow Friday as a way of saying – “In my opinion, these people are worth following”. Personally, I rarely do it, but I understand the motivation. So let them do it, no?
b) if you really can’t stand seeing these tweets (and it seems you can’t) stop following those people. This is how Twitter works (or at least, how it used to work): let people use it how THEY want, and only follow the people whose use is right for you.
c) if you’re wasting any more than a few minutes TOPS because of Follow Friday tweets, you should probably use Twitter less. I mean, how long does it take to flick your thumb down a few millimetres, or click the mouse button, to move on? The point is, tweets aren’t like emails – they are less personal, more throw-away. That’s the beauty of Twitter, not its drawback.
d) some people do use Follow Friday as a way to find new people to follow. Have you actually tried it? I agree it’s good to explain why you’re recommending people, but sometimes it’s enough that you trust the judgement of those people.
OK rant over. Are you with me? :)
@Livefyre User hehe :) So:
a) I understand the motiviation too, but quite honestly felt it was time someone explained to these people that for the most part, they’re wasting their time, their followers time and the people their recommending. Hopefully with the suggestions I made, that will change.
b) Oh I am quite selective about who I follow and few, if any, will do the whole #FF thing. Unfortunately, unless I block them, I still will see #FF mentions for myself. When I’m included in a mass of other peoples names, it means nothing to me.
c) This is where I agree, I probably use twitter more than your average Joe. It’s a massive source of stories for us and keeping an eye on it is just a must in our line of work…so staying away really isn’t an option.
d) No honestly, I don’t think I have tried it – but if I did, I know I’d definitely pick one person each week and explain why I think people should follow them :)
Despite our disagreement – I’m still with you :)
Short bursts that boost the ego is what they are. And as long as ego’s exist, so will #FollowFridays.
I like the rules more than the attempt to kill it.
When I first joined twitter after a few weeks of doing it I noticed that it doesn’t help much in getting followers due to people putting several names on it and no reason why to follow, I stopped doing it completely soon after. The most irritating of people will post tweet after tweet of follow friday, thats where my unfollow button comes in handy.
I just wrote this post the other day about Why #FF is a Joke. I think you’ll enjoy it. http://kennysilva.net/why-followfriday-is-a-joke/ – We got a bunch of people to rebel against it on Friday.
@Zee I have to agree with you on this.
I ramped up slowly on Twitter, eventually developing standing lists for FF. Then I read a similar blog post (can’t remember if it was here or elsewhere), and it made me rethink what I was doing.
Since then, I’ve pretty much ignored the whole concept. Personally, I feel RT’s are a) a bigger compliment (someone feels that what has been said is worth repeating), and b) provide better insight into whether I want to consider following that person.
Beyond that, I would do exactly what you outline (single person, and WHY they are worth following), but using #FollowAnytime – why wait for Friday, and what if your Friday gets to busy? Pay the compliment at the time.
Interesting point and it’s made me rethink the whole FF thing. I still feel it’s relevant to recommend followers that have helped me in some way but perhaps (as Stephen has suggested) singling one person out or retweeting what I found helpful would be a bigger and better compliment. I’ve stopped doing it so much recently but have to admit to sharing the details of a few really helpful tweeters last week!
I live and die by rules 1,2 and 3.
Well said that man.
Hey, just a heads-up, the Twitter account you linked doesn’t go to the same account as the Tweet account you linked. One goes to @Micah. The other goes to @Micha. I absolutely agree with you about the pointless Follow Fridays though.
@Shamontiel hey thank you, sorted
Amazing! This is almost word for word what I’ve been saying for over a year!
@Scott Hovind great minds…except clearly yours a year faster :)
Good post! :)
“…that’s all I have to say on the topic.. Are you with me?”
Yes.
-J.
The last thing we need is more ways to spam!
Bloody hell. I was just writing a similar article.
im sorry… you don’t waste more time at work on fridays because of #FF… no you waste more time on friday because your on twitter at WORK.
@William Ingram *you’re =)
And if you’re prone to a little cartoon to describe what’s written above check this out: http://theoatmeal.com/comics/follow_friday
Strongly disagree. I have found many great people to follow all morning today. No #FFs for you though. :)
If you don’t like mass #FF it is most likely because you consider yourself part of the Twitter elite, (AKA Twitter snobs). I bet you did mass #FFs when you first started. It’s the best way to find and follow new people quickly, for newbies getting started. I’m sorry you now follow X,000 peeps and now have X,000 followers and have no need to find new people, or be suggested by others yourself. Sounds like Twitter snobbery to me, and elitists trying to protect their self-appointed position as Twitter Gods. Pleeeeaasseeee…. May Twitter be open to all and my all be welome to use it the way they like. And some day I too will join you “Twitter Snobs” and join your bandwagon. :)
Your two ground rules, became three, which is fine since I totally agree with #2 and #3, but on the first point, I don’t think we should limit to only one person.
A certain moderation is very good, I saw Twitter users sending out tens of tweets, packed with @usernames. Instead of one name, you can make a #FF by topic and suggest several names that are pertinent for that topic.
Before I decide to follow anyone, I will check their tweets and even visit their website. At least for me, it takes more than one tweet to really appretiate if that person is worth following or not.
While I don’t know when #FF fewer will dye out, I have the feeling that it’s less used than a year ago, so who knows, maybe in a year or so the whole thing will become history :).
Eh, This is the epitome of first world problems. Twitter is great, if you don’t like what someone tweets, don’t follow them. You can have an unfollow Thursday!
Mostly agree. And where I agree it’s wholehearted. But like Adam I wouldn’t like to limit it to one. I do my #FF’s as one descriptive line and one mention. But don’t forget – that A #FF has two jobs in my book – one to recomend the follow, and two s=to send a hat tip to the mention for a particularly memorable/helpful/thoughtful/interesting twitter interaction that week. If they dont get any followers from it, then what the heck, but meanwhile your #FF has cemented your twitter relationship with the mention.
PS sorry about the typos :-/ sheesh!! (posted before I meant to)
You’re thinking too hard. Tweet what you want to tweet. and so will I