My thoughts about #FF

#TalkNerdyToMeLover's Ponder This

During 6 out of 7 days of the week Justin Bieber and Lady Gaga are reigning Twitters trending topics. But on one day of the week their dominance suddenly suffers and two other trending topics are taking over: #FF and #FollowFriday.

Everybody has seen those tweets but not everybody knows their origins. 

The first Follow Friday tweet was posted on January 16th, 2009 by Micah Baldwin:

The fundamental idea behind it hasn’t changed since then: Every Friday you can recommend tweeters you think your followers should also follow. The hashtag #followfriday was first used by Mykl Roventine and soon became a global phenomenon which explains its almost 48hours lasting trending topic dominance every week.

An analysis of a Friday showed that more than 16,000 users were recommended and more than 32,000 #ff tweets were published.

The discussions and controversies about #ff are almost as old as the concept itself. Basically there are three different opinions about it.

1. The ones that don’t do #ff because a) they don’t care about it or b) see no value in it. Often those tweeters can’t stand that their timelime get’s flooded with dozens of #ff tweets and user names they never heard of before. 


2. The ones that do selective #ff tweets. They give a shoutout to only a few people and explain their followers why they should follow them.


3. The ones that do #ff orgies, writing dozens of tweets with endless amounts of user names. They are giving shoutouts to almost everybody they know and users who are not into #ff would consider them spammers. 

Since it’s such an obvious topic almost everybody has an opinion about it. But no matter which position you take in this fight, there are some basic rules you have to follow: 

1. Don’t automate #ff or recommend everyone you follow


2. Don’t just type #ff followed by a load of names


3. Don’t #ff people just because they #ff’d you


4. Don’t retweet #ffs in which you’re mentioned


5. Theme your #ff 

On second thoughts: to hell with it! This is Twitter, do what you like! If you want to write kazillions of #ff tweets, do it! If you hate this day, just stay away from Twitter on Fridays. 

If you ask me, I like Follow Fridays. To me it’s a great way to show some of my (Twitter) friends that I like and care about them. I try to do #ff shoutouts every other week. Sometimes I just list the tweeters and sometimes I mention one person in one tweet and explain why you should follow her/him. It all depends on my mood and motivation on that day. But there’s one thing I don’t do: Sticking to any rules!

And to all of you that think #ff is a waste of time, I can tell you this: You wouldn’t read this article if it wasn’t for #ff. I discovered Jen through a #ff recommendation by Krystyn Chong. I can’t tell you exactly what the tweet said, but obviously it caught my attention and got me curious enough to take a look at Jens Twitter profile. If I would have known at that time that this little follow would start my ‘career’ as a tweeter and part-time blogger I would have copied or favorited it. 

So I suggest you should give #ff a shot. There are some real gems in all the dirt. It’s on you to discover them!

And since I have this platform right now, allow me to give a special #ff shoutout to some unapologetically awesome (Twitter) friends: 

• First and foremost the whole TNTML staff. You’re not only the creators and contributors of this site, I’m also considering you my friends: @JenFriel, @KateMontgom, @SnogVlog aka @ErinCapuano, @RisheGee, @NatalieKBeats, @FuglyCharlie, @AdamReisinger, @AustinCovello, @RustyNath, @Bound008


• @KrystynChong for starting this whole madness


• @Armeni_Kamciyan cause you’re a hot chickadee, a fighter for social media and I really, really like you


• @SoTresChic & @AimeeCheek: You two ladies are always fun to tweet with and I’m glad to know you


• @muenchner_kindl: You’re my no 1 source for all Apple news (mostly in German), mad tweeter and great person


• @SullyTheGreat1: When it comes to talking tech, you’re definitely a great one

And now excuse me, I have to write some #ffs…

Follow Torsten on Twitter: @iTozy

Comments

[rustynath]

Love it. Great article by a good friend. Thank you for all your help, since we met and for your wonderful work on this site. I have always wondered how #followfriday started. I'm going to go and retweet your #ff right now! Hahaha. :P Nate

[athie]

I don’t often participate in #ff to be honest with you but I do find #ff orgies (nice analogy there btw) a tad irritating/pointless – I’d rather someone explain/describe why I should follow that individual – banging out a list of random people doesn’t appeal to me & I’d be less inclined to follow them.

[@AdamReisinger]

I feel like the #ff lists without context are akin to spam, particularly when someone floods your timeline with them. The ROI on these tweets quickly decreases as the volume increases. If you're someone I follow and you send out one or two well explained #ff tweets a week, I'm more likely to give those people a look than if you just #ff everyone on your following list.

[Austin's Modern World]

I loved the article, and thank you for the shoutout.

[Armeni]

I loved this article! I always wondered where it came from. Thanks for the shout-out and the info.