Rather be on Twitter | $14.99 | Moonbeatle

It’s been a little while since I wrote about Twitter but my love affair continues! I still find it a constant source of information, entertainment and inspiration. As well as the fun of interacting with makers and dachshund enthusiasts from all over the world, people share some fantastic links to lots of great stuff – crafty and otherwise – that I wouldn’t have found just trawling through the internet on my own.

In the first Twitter Quick Tip I looked at how to ‘favorite’ tweets and how you can use this to show your appreciation and also to manage the often overwhelming flow of information. Another way you can show your appreciation for people you follow is through the ubiquitous ‘Follow Friday’.

What the heck is this #FF thing?

If you are new to Twitter you may be wondering (like I did when I first joined) why every Friday you suddenly see a bunch of tweets containing ‘#FF’ – it’s actually short-hand for Follow Friday, and it’s a way to recommend people who you find helpful, entertaining, amusing or just all round awesome!

The backstory to Follow Friday is kind of cool. It started off with just one guy with an idea – a way to recommend people he thought were cool to his Twitter friends – and his idea was so useful that it very quickly caught on. You can see a bit more of the history here.

Follow Friday has continued to evolve. You’ll now sometimes see the tag ‘#followfridayblog’ which means the tweet contains a link to a blog post with #FF recommendations, allowing for a much more detailed explanation of why you are recommending someone. And there’s also ‘#TravelTuesday’ and ‘#WoofWednesday’ for travel and animal related tweeters (twitterers? tweeps?) respectively.

Ok, so how can it help me?

Follow Friday can help you expand your Twitter network. First, by introducing you to new people to follow. Have a look at the #FF tweets from the people that you follow and enjoy and you’ll find that their recommendations are often spot on. And secondly, if you get a #FF mention (provided it’s not from a random spam bot), you’re likely to get a bunch of new followers from it – hurrah!

Follow Friday is also a great way to say ‘thank you’ to people who have been supportive or helpful in some way. Perhaps they retweeted some of your blog posts or newly listed Etsy items? Or maybe they responded to a question you had? If done properly, people do take notice of Follow Friday recommendations – it’s a lovely way to say ‘thanks’.

The other thing about #FF is that, if done properly, it can actually help build trust and confidence in what you tweet about in general. Making consistently good recommendations for #FF might mean people are more likely to pay attention the next time you tweet about a product or a blog post. These things are intangible of course, but everything you do on-line contributes to your social network ‘brand’.

If done properly?

Yes, I know – more rules, more etiquette! But really, it’s so easy to get it right and the benefits of getting it right are big. Remember that who you recommend reflects on you and your brand. You need to think about who you’re recommending and whether they ‘fit’ with the message you are trying to send through social media. Random or poorly thought out #FFs done in the hope of getting people to follow you aren’t just pointless, they can actually be harmful.

- Do include the Follow Friday hash tag in your tweet: #followfriday or #FF (or #ff) for short.

- Don’t just fill a #FF tweet with names. Why? See below.

- Do add reasons. A #FF is way better if you put in a couple of words as to why you are recommending someone – it doesn’t have to be an essay (actually, it’s Twitter – it can’t be an essay!), maybe just a quick description like ‘lovely and crafty’ or ‘informative and friendly’…you get the idea. The person who you’re mentioning will be mighty chuffed if you throw in a reason why too!

- Don’t feel obliged to join in every single Friday. It’s better to only join in when you have legitimate recommendations who you genuinely think others should follow.

- Do add value. Share tweeters who you feel will bring something to others – maybe they make you laugh, share good links, or are generally supportive?

- Some people may argue with this, but I say don’t #FF protected accounts (and I’m sure I’ve been guilty of this before – sorry!). It’s a bit disappointing when you click on a #FF recommendation to check out their tweets to see if you want to follow them, only to find that it’s a protected account and you can’t see any tweets after all.  Protected accounts usually signify someone who is a bit choosey about who they follow and who follows them, so they may not appreciate the mention anyway.

- Don’t get hung up on how many #FF mentions you get. They are nice, but as we all know, numbers are meaningless – it’s real connections that count.

- Do say a big thank you anytime you get a #FF!

If you’re interested, you can go have a look at followfriday.com, which ranks the most recommended ‘tweeps’ each week – you can see a global list, one by region or language, and (if you link it to your Twitter account) a list relevant to the people you follow.

If you missed my previous posts on Twitter you can find Part III (and the links to Parts I and II) here.

~Emily Orpin