FussyFollowFriday

By curiousillusion ( June 11, 2009 at 9:24 am) · Filed under social networks,

So last Friday @mattstratton and I noticed something.  It was Follow Friday on twitter and it was just the same as every other Follow Friday – massive amounts of tweets, listing massive amounts of people.  It’s pretty overwhelming and I can never decide who to actually follow as a result, not to mention I don’t seem to get many new followers myself (I think this past Friday I got just one).

Anyway, Matt and I talked about it and decided that maybe there should be a better way.  Instead of doing Follow Friday like everyone usually does, which is listing almost every single friend that you follow on twitter… maybe we should be more selective.  We could list one person to follow on Friday, maybe even blog or tweet about why you chose that person, and call it Fussy Follow Friday (tag it as #3F or #FussyFollowFriday).

The benefits are many.  First of all, it would cut back on the stress of having to remember every single person you want to suggest for Follow Friday.   You wouldn’t have to feel bad about leaving out one person.  It would cut down on the number of tweets you would be receiving. And it would help you figure out who to actually follow.  Instead of having to sift through the dozen or more suggestions, you’d only have one suggestion per contact.  And if that contact took the time to go through their list and pick only one person, then you know that they think this person is really stellar… so it’s probably a safe bet to follow them.

For more details about #3F, feel free to check out Matt’s blog post on the subject.

So… are you in?!  If so, join us on Friday for the first ever FussyFollowFriday.  And to start getting people used to the idea, how about you tweet something like this:

I’m tired of #followfriday overload! This week I’m going to be Fussy! #3F http://bit.ly/50XV8 (click here to magically tweet this)

I’m looking forward to seeing who you’re going to recommend!!

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  • I've heard about this before, but I never hopped on. I don't know if it was this exact idea, but it was similar. I am so so happy to see it brought up again.

    I agree x 1000 with everyone else. And it makes it easier to follow people as well to be sure you're not wasting your time.

    This comes into play with me also with "FWD" emails. I only forward the ones that are decent and are interesting. So, I'm totally on board. Now off to see who I recommend!
  • I left a comment on Matt's blog, but didn't want to deprive you of the credit where it's due! If you're both to thank for making this notion public, I'm thanking you both.

    I love #followfriday, and I've always tried to lead by example by always giving context to my followfriday recommendations. I also speak up every few weeks and insist that people should include reasons if they want their recommendations to mean something.

    It's important to note, however, that changing the hashtag might be detrimental to some of the followfriday trackers out there. One in particular is http://topfollowfriday.com, which tracks “endorsements”, as they call followfriday recommendations. I wouldn’t want to cheat anyone out of an endorsement if I really want to give it!

    So what I'm doing (starting today) is using the #3F hashtag IN ADDITION to the #followfriday one.

    Anyways, kudos on the idea, and happy 2nd-ever Fussy Follow Friday! :)
  • I totally started doing this a couple weeks back on my blog! I suggest one person to follow. Oh, and I copyrighted and trademarked it, so plan to be served with papers quite soon!

    Okay, so maybe no legal action cause I like ya... but... I'm gonna blame this atrocity on Matt.
    .-= hamsterkitten´s last blog ..Follow Friday: @RealWorldCara =-.
  • Yeah totally blame Matt, not me please!! :) And hey, apparently when you suggest, people listen!
  • You and Matt are brill, this is how I always understood Follow Friday to be. I've only participated in one Follow Friday, and I listed four artists/crafters/photographers. Why list someone you don't even know or who isn't also passionate about something *you're* passionate about? What's the point? I was listed by someone I'd only had a brief conversation (read: argument) with about the "exclusive" (read: bullshit) Harry Potter sneak peak on the MTV Movie Awards. I was actually uncertain whether this person was insulting me or not because literally all we had in common was this one Twitter convo.

    Moral of story: Don't list someone unless you find them interesting/cool/relevant. Otherwise a) they'll think you're a creeper b) you'll post a huge list a tweeps that no one cares about (including you) and c) you'll annoy everyone involved. :D

    So YAY #3F!
    .-= Chelsea S.´s last blog ..Deep in their roots, all flowers keep the light. =-.
  • Exactly! And wow that was bizarre that that person recommended you then!
  • Carol
    I only have one word for Twitter - UGH!
  • Oh that's weird, I thought I had replied to this comment by email. Apparently not.

    Anyway, if it weren't for Twitter, I wouldn't have gotten tickets to Six Flags Fiesta Texas for only $10 each. I'm pretty excited about that!
  • Nicolle
    I agree with you two. The way I understood Follow Friday originally, was that you chose one or two people a week that you really liked and you sent out a tweet telling everyone what it was about that person that you enjoyed and recommended everyone follow them. But what I find that happens is that people send out a list of every follower they have and there is no reason why they're recommending them. I try to pick some and give a reason why I think other's should follow them, but then I get worried my other followers will be upset if I don't mention them. I don't list all of my followers like some people do. I mainly list the people whose tweets I enjoy or those who I talk to on a regular basis. It seems no matter how many people put me in their Follow Friday posts, I still only get 2 or 3 followers tops. I think you and Matt came up with a great idea. I hope you blog about how the first one goes.
  • Yeah that's what I think the initial idea of Follow Friday was.

    Um, I was thinking about blogging about it but I don't think it went too well. I'll get back to you on that, lol!
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