8 Ideas for #FollowFriday

Jun
10
2010

For those new to Twitter, #FollowFriday (or simply #FF) became an international event in early 2009. It started as a simple way to recommend other people to follow (and know) on Twitter. #FollowFriday is easy to join in and one of the most popular ways to show appreciation for others on Twitter.

Here is an example:

And a social media cartoon from Rob Cottingham that hilariously captures the spirit of #FollowFriday:

C.S. Lewis appropriately remarked, "Friendship is born at that one moment when one person says to another, "What! You too? I thought I was the only one."

That being said, one challenge I have experienced with #FollowFriday is how to quickly discover more information about the people recommended.

Here are 8 Ideas for #FollowFriday to help you serve others by creating more connections on Twitter:

1. The Location Follow

One of the first lists I created on Twitter was one to keep track of people in my own city. This is a great way to promote local businesses and professionals.

Example:

2. The Common Interest Follow

Common interests are also a great way to connect people on Twitter. Discover something in common and promote it!

3. The Profession Follow

Take the time to promote professional resources in the same field:

4. The Personal Recommendation Follow

This is one of my favorite ways to recommend someone on Twitter. Of course, you don't have to wait until Friday to do so :-).

5. The Profile Follow

The good folks at Drivin Media sent out a generous #FF tweet with my Twitter profile word for word. Let me return the favor to them and some other nice people:

6. The College Follow

If there is one thing people love to brag about (especially during basketball and football seasons), it is their schools:

7. The Retweet Follow

Here's a common way to share someone else's recommendations to your followers:

8. The Follow Back

If you take the time to follow the people someone recommends, be sure to them let them know:

What are other recommendations do you have?

Thanks for sharing and for connecting good people on Twitter!

10 Comments

Jamie Favreau said on Jun 10,2010 at 9:40:52 PM

Thank you for including me in your sports follow list. I work to provide quality hockey content for the world in the most unbias way even if I am a die hard Red Wings fan and the Blackhawks have the Cup. haha.

Kendall Morris said on Jun 11,2010 at 2:18:50 AM

Thank you for including @FahrenheitTech in your blog. This is a good description of how to use #FF. -Kendall

Bob Burg said on Jun 11,2010 at 5:11:51 AM

Brent, thank you for your enlightening article and really cool tips. Had not thought of that. And, thank you for the personal mention. Very appreciated!

Bob

Mark L. Clark said on Jun 11,2010 at 5:39:31 AM

Good "briefing" on #FF and always nice to be used as an example, in a positive way.

SparklyTemp said on Jun 12,2010 at 10:54:44 AM

What a nice article! I never thought too much about the diverse ways I can use a friend follow.

Rob Cottingham said on Jun 14,2010 at 3:06:00 PM

I'm glad you liked the cartoon - and doubly glad to see it illustrating such a great post. Even a little intention and focus can keep #ff's a valuable part of the Twitter ecosystem.

rick osborne said on Jun 15,2010 at 8:20:44 PM

Great post Brent. Thx for the mention! : )

Rick Hamrick said on Jun 24,2010 at 1:45:15 PM

I hope lots of people see this, Brent, and I'll be RTing to my peeps!

Because I'm not using Twitter specifically to reach as many people as possible--my own usage is more for my entertainment and finding fun folks--I don't see the vanilla #ff as helpful.

The #ff tweets I like are the ones which provide more info (your #4 and #5). If I know a little about who you recommend, I am far more likely to check them out and perhaps follow them.

I also like the themed #ff. Even that beats the heck out of the tweets which cram as many twitter IDs as possible into the #ff.

Kirk Baumann said on Jul 1,2010 at 11:52:42 AM

Thanks for the mentions, Brent! These are all great ways to participate in #followfriday. I have adopted a technique from Chris Brogan as well. Why not go into more detail on the “why” on your blog? Check out my posts, Paying It Forward. Great way to drive traffic and give more background on your recommendations!

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