Social Media Blogging | Personal Development | Tony Teegarden

3 Things You Can Do To Improve Your Follow Friday Experience

Posted on 15. Dec, 2009 by tony in Social Media Self

Twitter And Follow Friday Follies

I have put off writing on this topic for months now. It’s been on my mind for the longest time and I haven’t written about it because I didn’t want to rain on anyone’s parade. (Not to mention I thought it was pretty trivial considering the homeless, the oppressed and the sick and dying of the world)

I put a category on here for social media self for a reason. I’ve decided, screw it. If anyone’s offended so be it. My heart is in the right spot.

So here are the 3 things about #followfriday on Twitter that I hope you consider before you participate this this week.

*ALL names below are to the best of my knowledge fictitious and do not bear any resemblance to anyone on twitter. If you find your name below…oops. Complete coincidence.

1. The #followfriday Mashup

I think you’ve seen them. Short lists with 3 to 5 peeps with at least a little understanding of why to follow, makes sense to me. But what doesn’t…

iamatwittergod #FF @get100000followersnow @youareawesome @myunderwearisblue @mysocksarepinktoo @twitterisdumb @getmorefollowers @youaremyfollower @followmeimcool @ilovecorn @getprettywhiteteethnow @cabbageisyummy @canisqueezeonemorein

Ok so I was TOTALLY guilty of this one way back when. I get it, your heart is in the right spot. You’re basically endorsing people you like. You’re calling attention to a mass of people who you admire and believe add value to your twittering experience. I get it.

Here is where I started waking up. I mean, on a Friday when you see about 100 of these things go by they just start to run together. I used to pick a person who I enjoyed their tweets and go through a few of theirs, but after a while It just lots it’s luster.

The sincerity was lost for me. It was the equivelant of someone running up to me in a networking event, shouting a bunch of names at me to check out and then running off to the next person. Extreme? Maybe but true for me never the less. Not to mention I don’t have time to weed through the list to find someone I may have some common interests with.

I realize it’s work to actually do a followfriday like this:

mytwitterrule @beeniebabiesRus is one of the coolest authorities on beanie babies! He interacts with you with his extensive knowledge. Very cool guy! #FF

I understand you can’t do that with 150 people but I do also understand easy always runs deep in the herd.

If you’re going to do it, do it with sincerity and give us a solid reason. This makes you stand out amongst the herd and you provided value to me by giving me a reason why. People with more authority are not going to take the time to go through your mashups.

2. The #followfriday Train of Mashups

This one had me jump up and want to cut my fingers off after a while, you know this one has to erk you as well.

iamatwittergod2 #FF @blog4cashtoday @mybrandisbetterthanyours @iamapornbot @worthlesstwitteraccount @eatabanana @anothergooglebizop @workfromhometoday @workfromhomeyesterday @make10milliondollarsnow @kmartiscool @browneggsmakemesick @thisisanautotweet

iamatwittergod2 #FF continued: @mymomissantaclause @get100000morefollowerstoday @followmeimgodoftwitter @makequickcashnow @positivequotes @morepositivequotes @evenmorepositivequotes @theultimatepositivequotelist @spammeimontwitter @youlovethispost @greeneggsandspam

iamtwittergod2 #FF continued even more @forexiscool @makezillionswithforex @forextradingontwitter @tweetandbepretty @mylistisbiggerthanyours @ilovefollowfriday @didimentioniloveforex @twitterguru @chrisvossisnotaguru @iautomatemytwitterlistandsoshouldyou

I think you get the point. I’m sorry but this is not sincere to me, nor does it make me want to dig in and follow your recommendations. If anything it makes me hit the unfollow button because I can see you’re really not either aware of what it means to personally engage or you’re just really good at copy & paste.

3. RT’ing Someone Elses Mashup

This is the one where I just lost my noodles. I really can’t think of anything lazier than retweeting someone else’s mashup list. I mean for the reasons already stated above I can’t handle it. But when I see someone who just RT’s someone elses mashup it reeks of insincerity.

imabettertwittergod RT iamatwittergod2 #FF @blog4cashtoday @mybrandisbetterthanyours @iamapornbot @worthlesstwitteraccount @eatabanana @anothergooglebizop @workfromhometoday @workfromhomeyesterday @make10milliondollarsnow @kmartiscool @browneggsmakemesick @thisisanautotweet @mynameischrisvoss

I’m sorry this is the fastest way for me to ignore you or even delete you off my friends list these days. It’s just lazy.

I’ll see imatwittergod send out a mashup and less than 30 seconds later I see imabettertwittergod RT the same list. Does he even know anyone on the first list? Did he take the time to really give a great recommendation?

Probably not. Hence, zero reputation with me.

Am I Being a #followfriday Scrooge

Not at all. I still thank people for their #followfriday acknowledgments but I myself don’t engage in it. Maybe I will again but I haven’t in the past few months. I remember @chrisbrogan saying he doesn’t participate in #followfriday because it disrupts the discussion. But then again I’m not Chris Brogan.

I mean #followfriday has a lot of great spirit behind it I believe and I did make one of, what I consider mistakes, above in the beginning. However I learned from becoming aware and really stepping back for a second and going, “wait, would I do that in person?”

I know not everything we do on twitter totally relates to being in person but it’s pretty damn close.

Remember social media has the power to expose or promote you and everything you do is a reflection of that. In my personal opinion social media exposes your social skills so take the time to stand out and really give a few solid recommendations this Friday. Let’s create a better quality experience for everyone.

Hell I may even participate now.

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Tags: followfriday, new to twitter, Social Networking, social networking skills, twitter