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Has FollowFriday had its day on Twitter?
A few months ago I wrote a blog post about how to do #followfriday on Twitter (#FF or #followfriday is a way to recommend some of your followers to others – you can read more here).
I’m wondering if my old blog post is now out-of-date – not in terms of how to do a #FF, I stand by that, one tweet per person you give a #FF to with a reason to follow them is still more powerful than one tweet with 10 tweeters names in and no reason why you should follow them.
However, following a conversation on twitter today with @tomjjarvis where I was explaining that I now really struggle to do #FF as I interact with so many fabulous people on Twitter that I often don’t know where to start – I don’t want to drown my followers timelines with voluminous #FF but only doing 4 or 5 doesn’t even scratch the surface.
I do find on a Friday that the number of #FF tweets I see in my timeline is getting too many, to the point where my eyes tend to glaze over pretty much all of them and therefore what’s the point – certainly I rarely see much of an increase in followers on a Friday
So what are the alternatives?
Do one #FF and suggest one of my twitter lists
No, seems a bit lazy & I’d have to rejig all my lists and what do I call that list – ‘cool people’ – with the inference being if you’re not in that list you aren’t cool? Sounds like I’m back in school ;-D
Don’t do #FF any more
That doesn’t seem right to never suggest a follower or thank them – and herein lies another problem, some people use #FF to thank people, some people use #FF to highlight who they interact with most, some use #FF to suggest interesting followers.
Do #FF in realtime
So, here’s a’ crazy’ suggestion – why don’t we all just thank people and suggest people to follow in realtime
e.g. Many thanks to @tomjjarvis for a stimulating conversation about #FF this morning! #followhim – all my followers see it – why wait til Friday?
It means our timelines don’t get overwhelmed on a Friday so when we do see it during the week we might take action, plus we don’t have to sit there every Friday scratching our heads wondering where to start!
Add in an appropriate ‘Ronseal’ hashtag – say #followthem, #followhim #followher – and bob’s your uncle 
I’m going to try this for a few weeks anyway and see what happens, I’ll let you know!
I’d really value your thoughts on #FF and whether you think it may have had it’s day? And if you have any cool hashtag suggestions for it please share them!
TTFN
Jan
I’m with Paul on this one Jan, except that I really try limit my followees to what i can really connect with – not very successfully I might add. I do check out FFs from the people whose opinion I respect and who I have therefore listed. And slowly I get FFed by a small number of trusted contacts – which is fine by6 me – I am not into the numbers game.
Matt
Hi Matt, thanks for commenting.
I’m impressed, I tried to restrict who I follow but I just enjoy interacting with too many people I think – as a sensitive soul I also worry about offending some people if I don’t follow them – one day I’ll get over that!
I just wonder whether as many people read #FF tweets as a year ago – time I guess will tell.
Thanks again
Great points in this post Jan. There is no question that people are over using the #FF and #followfriday hastags. I still take a small amount of notice of the suggestions from people on a Friday, however it’s getting increasingly difficult to cut through the clutter. I’d encourage people to follow your tips here and it’s definitely worth taking the time to recommend people in “real time” as you suggest.
I personally feel if a person is worth recommending on Friday, then they are worth recommending on a Monday, Tuesday etc… if nothing else doing a few #FF ‘s on a Friday is a nice pat on the back for the person you’re mentioning, maybe that’s what it’s become… more #friendlyfriday than #followfriday
Thanks for your comments Ian and strangely enough I couldn’t agree more with you and I like the #friendlyfriday idea, that does represent more what I see in my stream on a Friday anyway.
Great article..the original idea of recommending people that others should follow is a good idea. But like so many things, people are always trying to find a short cut, a way to do it without thinking etc… which will ultimately lead to its demise… Why do people do the kitchen sink approach, many often add their own names in the list as well..
so perhaps it has had its day… not because its a bad idea but because the way people are implementing it has become very poor and its losing much of its appeal..
So are there better ways? perhaps.. making a list os a cool idea, adding 5-10 peeps to your own website and a reason why we should also follow each one, perhaps even doing a video of your best 5 peeps that week and so on..
It would be a shame if it stopped completely as it does give a way for people to find new people.
Mark
Thanks Mark, I appreciate your comments.
Agree it would be a shame if it stopped totally as I certainly found in my early twitter days it was a very useful way to find local and industry-relevant followers but you’re right the implementation of it has now devalued it.
I really like the idea of suggesting them in real time. I’d find that much easier to do too. Like you, I tend to just glaze over them on Fridays to be honest. My timeline is just flooded with the nonsense, most of them naming 10 people in one tweet with no reason to follow. I also hate when people RT every #FF that they’re mentioned in. Why are you telling people who already follow you that other people recommend following you? Gah! Drives me nuts!
But anyhoo, yes, I think I’ll try out the realtime suggestions and see how that goes.
Great post!
Many thanks for your comments! Have to say I’m not a fan of those who RT #FF’s they are in, looks a bit ‘me, me, me I’m brilliant’ …
Hope you find using #followthem realtime works out
Its really important to treat the people who follow you with respect. If as a result of #ff you end up with so many followers that you can’t handle the twitter traffic you only end up alienating and isolating people. I have sent you two messages – one a DM – neither of which you responded to. Okay so you have never met me but that is no excuse to be rude.
Julia genuinely if I’ve missed a mention/DM from you I apologise sincerely – I always endeavor to answer all tweets – please could you send me your twitter username so I can check if I received your tweets – I did have one occaision where I just didn’t see one persons tweets in my stream it was most peculiar.
Hand on heart the only time I knowingly ignore a tweet is if it’s obviously spam, abusive or someone sending very cheeky requests when I have no rapport/engagement with them.