Every Friday on twitter people post their favorite people to follow. It’s called Follow Friday and is denoted by the Twitter hash-tags #FollowFriday or #ff for short. I personally think #ff is one of the best ways to find new people to follow, so I actively participate by generating my own #ff lists and tweeting them.
I am meticulous in reviewing my Follow Friday list every week. People are added and removed regularly. How does one get on (and stay on) my lists?
#1: Tweet about beer.
#2: Reply to my tweets and hold conversations with me. (Most influential)
#3: RT my posts.
Here are my #ff tweets for this week (reformatted for easier reading):
#ff #beer buds (1):
@ likebeer
@ BeerinBaltimore
@ BarMas
@ thebrewclub
@ ilikemybeers
@ bblodge
@ BCarder
@ MikeLovesBeer
#ff #beer buds (2):
@ beerad
@ 52Brews
@ TinCoyote
@ The_Beer_Man
@ SimplyBeer
@ beerinator
@ AbsOfBeerTV
@ BeersInBoston
#ff #beer buds (3):
@ smithbrad
@ beerforthedaddy
@ LFarmer3
@ EliShayotovich
@ TheBeerNerd
@ thebobthe
@ hopcast
@ CreamAle
#ff #beer buds (4):
@ twobeerqueers
@ allbeernews
@ waynethetrain
@ cbjerrisgaard
@ benwilderv
@ ilikethedrink
@ OrderOfMen
#ff #beer buds (5):
@ BeerGenius
@ Cltsahdaddy
@ barleyblog
@ elric14
@ Beertodd
@ beerforthedaddy
@ Fuggled
@ kenoftheyear
#ff #beer buds (6):
@ ShawnBGP
@ CBL1978
@ DailyBeerReview
@ socialremorse
@ BitzyBrew
@ SchlitzMKE
@ PetiteBrasserie
#ff #beer buds (7):
@ AverageBeerSnob
@ Hoptopia
@ Brads39
@ craftbeerdrinkr
@ CommonMansBeer
@ ChadNorthrup
@ CERVEZAmasFINA
A special #ff for my guest beer reviewers:
@ Silvio_Marcacci
@ AndyTheBeerman
@ mikogreen
@ TheBarroomHero
@ r3creative
@ TheBarroomHero
@ 4d4films
#ff My biggest #beer homies:
@ RunawayJimPVD
@ cbrew1138
@ verysherryberry
@ ConstantCritic
@ beeraday
@ Sweet__T
@ markskar
@ alesfrmthecrypt
#ff The ladies of #beer (1):
@ beerbabe
@ TheBeerWench
@ cutefont
@ BrandTallDeb
@ SudsyMaggie
@ sarahhuska
@ StephWeber
#ff The ladies of #beer (2):
@ bruisinales
@ BeerGoggins
@ jaimebarclay
@ thegirlgotsoul
@ TheArtofBeer
In addition to my Follow Friday shout-outs, you might be interested in the lists I keep on Twitter:
* Beer Lovers
* Breweries
* Beer-Bloggers
Ecolissa.com
That's a heck of a #FF list! Thanks for including me. I've been called so many things – It's nice to be called 'awesome' every once in awhile!
Thanks for the list!
@TheBeerRunner
Damn, I am awesome. You have me on there twice!
I like beer in my sits-bath!
Follow Friday was great for a while, but I think it's run its course. The best way I've found new followers was through other people's @ replies. Unfortunately, Twitter decided it used too many resources to show me everyone's @ replies so now they only show you @ replies to other people you follow.
The problem with Follow Friday is that people never give a reason to follow some of these folks and many list half of those they follow. My response to Follow Friday is to just follow everyone I follow. They're all cool people.
Also, lists make it easier to avoid follow friday and find new people to follow based on interests.
I have to completely disagree with ya Jim. FF is a great way to boil down your followers to the top people. As mentioned in my post, I'm very active in adding/removing people from my list. I follow ~600 people, but only a small fraction end up on the list.
I used to do individual #ff shout outs to give people a better idea of what each person brought to the table. The list got too big to continue personalized shout-outs.
On top of all that, I've received a ton of positive feedback about my Follow Friday lists.
-Lost
Here's a suggestion on an alternative to FF, mainly because I seem to have a handful of followers who like to write up about 10 FF posts every Friday.
Rather than doing that, do a single FF post with a short "why?" of just a handful of tweeps. Don't duplicate tweeps each week (though I do appreciate the gesture) for a while. Another way is to pick 5 tweeps, write out the "why?" and do 1 tweet per tweep.
Ideally, people would create lists and just suggest that others follow those lists. This cleans up the tweets and makes it easier. Rather than just seeing it on a Friday, it's always there for people to see and follow if they so choose.
But the main point of FF was for when there were far fewer people on Twitter and it was harder to find people to follow. Now that just about everyone and his brother is on it, it's much easier to find people to follow.