Saturday, January 5, 2013

Twitter 101: Follow Friday

Hey there,

This post is part of a series on basic things one can do on Twitter. So for those still trying to figure out Twitter, I thought I'd start by breaking down #FollowFriday (aka #FF). Yes it's a hashtag, but I'd have to say this is one of those cases where you are not joining a conversation.

The idea is that with this alliterative hashtag, you recommend Tweeps for others who search for #FF or #FollowFriday can follow. The problem is that Twitter becomes so inundated with #FF tweets, that there is no way sift through the noise. So, in my experience, this is more for your followers, and even more so for the people you mention. One of the first things I do when included in a #FF is to check out and maybe even follow the others included in it.

That being said, I thought I'd provide some examples of how I've used Follow Fridays.

You can use it to highlight Tweeps relevant to your field of work, whether you follow them or not. I also use this sometimes to try and get the attention of people I follow who aren't following me back yet, as they'll get a notice you mentioned them in a tweet. Anyway, in my case (for this blog), here are some social media & arts accounts that I believe share great content.
It can be a way to connect with people and organizations which you do work with. At my day job, our artists do a lot of work with libraries, and that came up in conversation, so I decided to do a shout out to some of the area's public libraries:

Or it can be a simple way to thank new followers. I like this because sometimes before you realize it, a number of new people have followed your account and you haven't hit 'em back yet. Follow Friday's a great opportunity to do that.

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Just don't get crazy with it. I usually try not to have more than three tweets worth of people, including some context as to why I'm mentioning them. An exception is if I've participated in a Twitter chat or some kind of large event (like a festival or conference), I'll do a Follow Friday marathon, mentioning those who contributed to the chat or whom were live tweeting from the event.

So those are just some examples. Hope this helps, and definitely leave comments for any other thoughts or ideas or even examples of Follow Fridays you particularly liked,

JR

2 comments:

  1. Hashtags in general can be a great tool for those looking to expand their network if used properly. Using the #FF hashtag has helped me connect with people who work in the same industry as I do and those I share personal interests with. It's a great way to reach out to a bigger audience or just engage in casual conversation (which could also help gain new followers if they get curious as who's involved in the convo). Thanks for sharing, JR!

    -Jean

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  2. You may hear (or read about) people buzzing about hashtags and how much they use them to brand their products and/or services. Hashtags are a communications tool that can be used with several of the popular social media channels. 먹튀검증업체

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