Why #FollowFriday Doesn’t Work Anymore

Oct 17, 2010 by

Twitter users see it every Friday in their @ reply feed – #followfriday shout outs. What the heck is #followfriday? It’s a way of recommending your favorite Twitter users to your followers by including the hashtag, #followfriday. The intended effect is that your followers watch for your recommendations on Friday and follow those people. However, it’s just not working out the way people hoped.

Here’s why.

(Random disclaimer for myself – please note that I’m not directing this at anybody in particular. I get a TON of #followfriday mentions every week so I’m not pointing a finger at anyone…in fact, I can’t even keep track of who does it for me anymore. If you’re a #followfriday junkie, just brace yourself, because I’m about to bash this major failed attempt to recommend your friends.)

When you randomly mention a bunch of Twitter users in an update, so are thousands of other people, and all on the same day! From my perspective, you’re not giving me any reason to follow those people whatsoever. Everybody’s doing it. Nobody’s standing out. If I followed all of the people who were recommended on #followfriday, I would drive myself nuts, and I’d probably be following people that weren’t even in my niche.

Here’s a sample of what I’m talking about:

“@horsefamilymag @chargedupmedia @steveweedprod @servicebandwgn @greencedars #ff #followfriday ”

A bunch of mumbo jumbo, that’s all that is. No reason is being given for me to follow any of those accounts. No definition explaining what industry each is from. One’s an online horse magazine. Another is a video production company. One’s a summer resort. Randomly following these people per a #followfriday recommendation would be pointless for me.

(Granted, I do follow all of the above, because I either manage or have some kind of connection with these accounts. :) )

Get the idea though?

So, if you want to do a #FF or #followfriday shout out for your favorite tweeps, this is what I’d like to see instead:

“Check out my friend @mandeewidrick. She’s a social media marketing coach with lots of great tips to share!”

-or-

“Y’all should totally check out @whoschrishughes. He’s a juggling entrepreneur with some great social media savvy.”


Why does that make a difference? Because you’ve just included a personal comment along with your recommendation. I don’t have stats on how many more clicks/follows are received when wording a tweet this way instead of including a bunch of random users, but I’m 100% positive that this method is WAY more effective.

So, before you throw out a ton of random #followfriday mentions this week, think about who you’re recommending and why. I bet the people you’re recommending will appreciate the fact that you took the time to say something special about them, versus flooding their @ reply feed with mindless tweets (I know I will!). :)


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  • http://www.loyaltytoday.com Brandy Goode

    I agree I have been seeing #ff for awhile and I can’t remember once where I actually followed someone that was recommended. :( but I believe that I have received follows from other people who have given me props using #ff. Either way its been going on for so long people still do it and there really is no way to determine if its actually effective. What you are recommending has a great personal touch to it.

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  • http://whoschrishughes.com chris hughes

    #followfriday has really lost its appeal to me and i’ve even gone as far as telling people not to do it for me…probably not the greatest idea, but in reality it has been so watered down that it is ineffective.. I LOVE your way of doing the follows. It’s much more powerful and really gives people a reason to follow someone. It’s not just because you mentioned me in the post either ;)

    Great work on the idea and thanks for the mention!

    -chris

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  • http://www.laurenhuston.com Lauren Huston

    Awesome idea! Someone once told me another GREAT trick! Instead of listing each individual person in a #FF shout-out, you can make a #FF LIST. Then on Fridays, you can tell people to follow that list and THEN decide if you want to follow specific individuals. So now I just have to work on my #FF list to promote! Nice work, Mandee!

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  • http://www.photodigest.org Troy Nagle

    Going to have to also agree with you Mandee. Personally, I follow more people doing the every day causal tweeting than any follow friday. Friday also gives me false hope as well; people share my name on twitter – so yes I may get a bunch of followers – but by Sunday, I’m back to the same number of followers as I was Thursday!

    Much like those Hallmark holidays, making sure you share you’re favorite follows regularly is great practice in my opinion.

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  • http://www.reimerconsulting.com Nathan R.

    I’ve boycotted FF since I started seeing it appear in my timeline. Your recommendations are spot on.

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  • http://blog.prosperyourmind.com Mr. Personal Development Michael Berry

    Hey Mandee I never heard about #followfriday, I guess I’m a little too new to this. What you’re saying makes perfect sense. By the way, I retweeted your tweet for this post. As soon as I finish this comment I’m going to check out the rest of your blog. I love the way you write and I can tell you’re a no nonsense person.

    Michael

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  • http://www.selfcareessentials.com JoAnne

    I totally agree! #followfriday has been watered down and I have also stopped using it.

    I wonder why can’t we give a shout out and reason to follow someone ANY day of the week?

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  • http://www.emmathomas.ws Emma

    Hi Mandee,

    I’m so undecided about #FF but what you say certainly makes sense.

    I have to admit that on Friday’s I do get a lot more followers than on every other day of the week but I’m sure that statistic would increase further if the #FF were done as you have suggested. I send out my #FF’s almost every week – it’s such a habit now and for the 5 minutes it takes, I hope that some people have new followers because of it.

    When I’m on a blog that I particularly like, I retweet with an added personal note recommending it to my followers and I think that works well.

    Kind regards,

    Emma

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  • http://CaboVacationGetaway.com Bob Patenaude

    Hey Mandee – Way to stay on top of the trends. I think you’re spot on correct that recommendations without meaning are pointless. I like your ideas, keep up the good work.

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  • http://www.forevercourageouswoman.com Denise

    Hey Mandee,

    Admittedly, I don’t tend to do Follow Fridays but I have noticed plenty of what you mentioned above whereby people have just listed a load of people to follow with no reason and so I just look at it and think, ‘and your point is….?’

    Definitely including a little bit about why you’ve chosen that person makes more sense.

    Denise

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  • http://blog.monikagenehr.com Monika Genehr

    I always thought I should do Follow Fridays because it’s good for syndication but I never did. Those kind of tweets don’t seem to provide much value if any to most of my followers for precisely the reasons you pointed out. I admit though, I appreciate when someone mentions me in his Follow Friday.

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  • http://www.lifestylechanger4u.com Jilleen

    Yes I agree Mandee. It’s just not savvy or polite to blast people with random requests or suggestions to follow. I like your suggestions, they add value.

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  • http://onlinebusinessowners.org/ Yusuf Chowdhury

    I’ve seen people doing it and in fact I was recommended once but never understood the impact behind it except for getting traffic. I love the way you put it best Mandee. If we put our time with personal comment that would be more powerful. Thanks for the GREAT post.

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  • http://xcapedcat.com BarryckR

    I do agree with you on the topic, but I think that there is an another solution that can be waaay more effective too.

    I make a list of people I would like my followers to follow, and promote it. Or write a blog post about 10 people of the week that made an impact in my streamline. This last solution has actually two gains. You show gratitude for those tweeps you are promoting, and they promote your blog post -> exposure -> hits ;)

    Hope to have helped.

    B

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    Edwin Goitia Reply:
    January 29th, 2011 at 12:50 am

    Great point man.

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  • http://www.edwingoitia.com Edwin Goitia

    Funny thing is I’ve never really been into follow Friday, although I have seen it. Never saw any point in it besides the pointless follows. Thanks for the great post Mandee!

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  • http://ADayWithoutHunger.blogspot.com Jackie Bigford

    Great Article,

    I have been on Twitter for about 18 months and in the beginning as a “Newbie” #FollowFriday was so exciting…I just loved seeing so many people recommend me..I was even #80 in Canada for #FollowFriday at one point. I would also spend the day recommending my followers out.

    It didn’t take me very long to realize that I was just treading water…not really gaining new friends in the stream and losing some that thought and think it is a huge waste of time. Now I choose a select few and spread them throughout the day. I can attest that the popularity is dropping because I am now about #250 in Canada.

    Barry, I love your idea of choosing the top people of the week that you want to promote and write a blog post…great idea..I just might borrow it :-)

    If you wish to get to know me on Twitter you can find me @JackiesBuzz..drop into my stream and say hi.

    Stay Passionate
    Jackie

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  • http://ChristineCaseyaB.com/blog Christine Casey

    Hi Mandee ~ So glad to see your post as I agree that #FF are getting lost and not really personalized recommendations of why to follow someone. Thanks for the examples you gave as I will start using those instead :-) Christine

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