Given that it’s Friday, I thought It would be appropriate to discuss Twitter’s follow friday phenomenon.  Follow Friday is nothing new. In fact, it started in Mid-January of 09 by the Tweeter Micah Baldwin.  I am often asked about it’s use by Twitter newbies, hence the reason for this blog post.

So what is Follow Friday anyway?

Simply put – a Follow Friday Tweet contains the usernames of other Twitter users that you think your followers should follow. (Say that 10 times fast…). The Tweet usually contains the hashtags: #ff or #followfriday so that users searching those hashtags can monitor the day’s reccomendations.

Why would you want to reccomend people to follow?

Well executed social media campaigns make building relationships a priority. If you recongnize someone you are following as valuable with a Follow Friday Tweet, it can only strengthen your current relationship with them. It will also strenghen relationships with your followers if you provide quality reccomendations (see below).

Here are some guidelines for your Follow Friday Tweets:

• Don’t reciprocate Follow Friday Tweets unless you genuinley want to. Spammy Twitter accounts often send out Follow Friday mentions with the intent of receiving a reciprocation for exposure.
• Don’t arbitrarily choose your Follow Friday mentions. Briefly explain why your followers should follow your canditates in your Tweet.
• Don’t feel pressured to send out a Follow Friday mention every Friday. If you did not engage with any new Twitter user’s this week, wait until you do. Remember, quality over quantity counts in your Tweets.

Posted by Paul under social media & Twitter | No Comments »