#FF Yourself.
No, I did not just swear at you. #FF stands for "Follow Friday" which is something that I understand has been around as long as Twitter itself. Each day of the week has it's own hashtag generally be it #musicmonday or #traveltuesday and so on and so forth. But there are a number of people out there who question Friday's validity and usefulness. Does it indeed help you gain more followers or find people to follow that you might not have otherwise? I think so.
How It Works
Well, you simply tweet out a person's twitter handle, or a group of people and just add #FF. The rest of the twitter world sees it. They decide if they want to follow. People have different methods for doing this too - tweet out one person and why, tweet out a group of people with no explanation, or a themed group.
Why People Complain That's Pointless
Many argue that it's just wasted energy. Patting each other on the back, sending out the same groups of people every week, or just lumping everyone in together with no rhyme or reason seems futile.
But is it really pointless? I don't think so. Even if you send out one lump group of people, maybe they check each other out and your network grows that much more. Or maybe looking at your twitter profile and having 10 tweets of nothing but groups just makes it all blend together. It's all up to interpretation. I suppose if you're #FFing the same people every week the message becomes a little diluted as well.
How I Make it Work
I love getting #FF'ed. Who doesn't? Once a week someone tells you that they like you, admire your work, or enjoy your twitter friendship. They're telling THEIR network about YOU. It's free promotion. What is so wrong with that? As someone who tries to constantly meet new people, I find this to be a pretty valid practice and one that I hope continues. Do I have a strategy? You betcha.
Each week I think about the people that I've come in contact with. People that have inspired me, taught me something, made me laugh, or that are new in my twitter life. Periodically throughout the day I send out a tweet with one specific person and why. As an example lately, I've been pumping up my friend @nicknewt. I met him in real life first a few months ago through mutual friends, but each and everyday he tweets some of the most hilarious stuff. He's big into tv, movies, and comic books, and is good at twitter conversing - refers to himself as a curmudgeon. In the past few weeks, his followers have grown. It's that simple (and no, I don't take credit for that, but it doesn't hurt).
I also tend to group together some of my favorite local social media people as well - since we tend to run in the same circles. Syracuse is surprisingly a hotbed for social media activity and I really think that it'll only get better in the upcoming year just knowing some of the projects that are lined up (Intrigued? You should be.).
So go ahead and throw out a couple of #FF's for people this Friday. You'll make someone's day - and you'll help Twitter folk become that much more connected - and that's really the whole point, right?
How It Works
Well, you simply tweet out a person's twitter handle, or a group of people and just add #FF. The rest of the twitter world sees it. They decide if they want to follow. People have different methods for doing this too - tweet out one person and why, tweet out a group of people with no explanation, or a themed group.
Why People Complain That's Pointless
Many argue that it's just wasted energy. Patting each other on the back, sending out the same groups of people every week, or just lumping everyone in together with no rhyme or reason seems futile.
But is it really pointless? I don't think so. Even if you send out one lump group of people, maybe they check each other out and your network grows that much more. Or maybe looking at your twitter profile and having 10 tweets of nothing but groups just makes it all blend together. It's all up to interpretation. I suppose if you're #FFing the same people every week the message becomes a little diluted as well.
How I Make it Work
I love getting #FF'ed. Who doesn't? Once a week someone tells you that they like you, admire your work, or enjoy your twitter friendship. They're telling THEIR network about YOU. It's free promotion. What is so wrong with that? As someone who tries to constantly meet new people, I find this to be a pretty valid practice and one that I hope continues. Do I have a strategy? You betcha.
Each week I think about the people that I've come in contact with. People that have inspired me, taught me something, made me laugh, or that are new in my twitter life. Periodically throughout the day I send out a tweet with one specific person and why. As an example lately, I've been pumping up my friend @nicknewt. I met him in real life first a few months ago through mutual friends, but each and everyday he tweets some of the most hilarious stuff. He's big into tv, movies, and comic books, and is good at twitter conversing - refers to himself as a curmudgeon. In the past few weeks, his followers have grown. It's that simple (and no, I don't take credit for that, but it doesn't hurt).
I also tend to group together some of my favorite local social media people as well - since we tend to run in the same circles. Syracuse is surprisingly a hotbed for social media activity and I really think that it'll only get better in the upcoming year just knowing some of the projects that are lined up (Intrigued? You should be.).
So go ahead and throw out a couple of #FF's for people this Friday. You'll make someone's day - and you'll help Twitter folk become that much more connected - and that's really the whole point, right?