What is #FollowFriday on Twitter? Make it Count!

For those new on Twitter and you see on your stream a hashtag #FollowFriday, this is Twitter’s day Friday, the time to share with your followers your recommendation on who you feel others should follow as well. When the #FollowFriday started which I believe was around April this year, it was great, people were sharing who they feel I should follow to learn more about a lot of things I am interested in. I myself gave my recommendations and followed people who my followers recommended. The #hashtag became a favorite and during Fridays the streams get jam packed.

But as time passed, people were already either just recommending so that they get recommended, or just going through the motion just to get their recommendations out. Many have stopped all together, while others continue to this day. As I always say in all my twitter related tips, to each his own, do what you feel is right for you, but i hope you will allow me to give some tips that I hope will give more substance to your recommendations:

1. Try to give a reason why you are recommending your follower – This takes time, but I assure you, it will be worth the effort. Giving a brief description will allow others the opportunity to think and choose before following.

2. Try not to fit everyone’s name in one tweet - #Followfriday @username, @username, @username – this not only floods your followers with so many names. This also encourages spamming. I am sure at one point in time you see a tweet coming from a spammer, or tweets you did not even start in the first place.  This also eliminates the follow then unfollow pattern.

3. Twitter is not a popularity contest – People follow you  because you are known for sharing useful links, or because you engage them.  They value your recommendation, so try to keep that in mind, this includes the people you reco for them to follow.  Don’t recommend a person for brownie points. I have made a lot of recommendations in the past, that I am proud to say have made an impact in other people’s twitter experience.  It makes my day just seeing them now converse and share with each other on a daily basis.

If you are the type who doesn’t like to use FollowFriday, there are other options you can choose from:

1. Mr Tweet - this enables you to recommend and give a reason why you reco someone, but it also ads a little bit more. You see Mr Tweet recommendations, allows the person and you to be recognized in the network.

2. Tweepml- The list is in one site, all you need to do is tweet that link that carries your list and people can just click and follow.

3.  Twitter List - You can add people in a list based on interest or category that would best describe them.  (Twitter list for social media. or Twitter list for designers).

4.  Create the list on your site - You can add a weekly recommendation list on your blog or website – may take time, but extremely helpful in the long run, plus again you won;t have to flood your streams with so many names.