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The Follow Friday Fun: Is It Still Effective?

If you’re into social media like we are, you’re pretty familiar with Fridays on the Twitter social calendar; if you’re not, do you really know what it means?

In a nutshell, Follow Friday—or FF if you’re tight for character space or into jargon—is where you recommend fellow “Tweeters” in the hopes your followers may find more people with like interests. They can share information, knowledge or just simply shoot-the-bull that helps build a sense of community. The 140-character “tweet” is usually highlighted with the hashtag#FollowFriday or #FF for easy cataloguing so others on the social media platform can find it.

But somewhere along the way, the personal nature of the Friday phenomenon has been lost, replaced with numerous messages maxed out with Twitter handles and that fancy hashtag—nothing more. So the question has to be asked: is Follow Friday still effective?

Yes – it’s still effective…but it needs to be more personal in nature, in both the mention itself and the “thank you” response for said mention.

As social media specialist Scott Stratten often notes—he of UnMarketing fame and always a must read (@unmarketing on Twitter, natch)—people who use Twitter often lose sight of what Follow Friday needs to be: personal. In other words, when making special mention of someone to follow, give a reason why someone needs to follow him or her, i.e. give meaning to your message. The same goes for a “thank you” message for the mention.

Want an example (plug alert)?

• @XYZWidgets — #FF @abstraktmg: An agency that always offers info, stats and engages their tweeps w/ razor sharp wit.

• @abstraktmg – Thanks for the #FF mention! We always appreciate engaging new folks.

See? It’s that easy: put a little thought into it by dedicating a full, 140-character tweet (or 120-ish to increase the likelihood it gets re-tweeted) that adds value to the message—and a reason why someone should engage a fellow “Tweeter.”

Otherwise, we may have to introduce the hashtag “ThrowawayThursdays.”

Happy #FollowFriday!