Is #FollowFriday on Twitter a Waste of Time

Is #FollowFriday on Twitter a Waste of Time I think that #Follow Friday or otherwise known as #FF is a cutie of a hashtag.  I also think its a huge waste of time. It is soooo abused!   I’ve been meaning to pen this blog for a while.   In fact every Friday when I’m in Twitter I end up creating finger-nail marks in my desk when I see the #FF hashtag doing the rounds. #FF has been around since 2009 and is now a Friday staple of Twitter (along with #woofwednesday and a recent favourite  of mine #WineWednesday I have 2 kids under 7) #FF drives me nuts: Apparently 80% of tweets are read within an hour of them being sent, so they will lose relevance pretty quick â€" even if they seemed relevant in the first place. I often get #FFd and I am really flattered, and I want to say “thanks”.   Sometimes, though, I see that a lot of other people have been #FFd in the same tweet and I know if I either retweet the tweet or reply then everyone mentioned in the tweet will be hounded by me â€" and I don’t want to do that. I get that the tweeter wants to say thanks for either being engaging or tweeting helpful stuff… but it would be great (and more effective for me and them) if the #FF was more cleverly crafted. Follow Friday What is it good for? I really rate #FF.   They help me see who rates who and also help me decide who to follow (isn’t that the point?) Surely when you use the #FF hashtag you want to: Demonstrate your specialism as a recruiter Stroke someone’s hair (admit it, you love it!) (…clients, candidates, suppliers, thought leaders?) Attract attention and raise your profile (this is a very important tactic for the recruiters I work with) The Ultimate Way to #FF Of course mention the account you rate, but tell me why â€" and don’t forget key words and hashtags.  Stick with the just the one and youll be more engaging ad real: You may even be clever recruiters and use Buffer to schedule the tweet. (After all, I’m not expecting you to set your clock for Friday 08:00 so you can setup your #FF.) How about being Sub-Zero Cool with #FF Hashtags? Why not create a list of all of the people you rate and regularly sharing this list.  I’ve created a Twitter list and you can subscribe to it here. I’ll be adding to it whenever I find someone I want to #FF. Don’t just do 1, do several (one at a time), and as mentioned above use Buffer to schedule them (either all on the same day, or every Friday for the next few weeks â€" get organised!) And if you’re lucky enough to be #FFd â€" say thanks!   But you don’t have to #FF back â€" be authentic please! Get the App There’s a cute Android app called  Follow Friday Assistant.   It looks at who you’ve interacted with and helps you decide who to setup as a #FF.   It’s pretty cute! Get Cracking Think about looking at your home page on Twitter and looking for the Twitter accounts that make you pause and read.   Why is this this and can you put into words what make you stop and stare?   Then craft a beautiful tweet to engage your own followers, stroke the hair of the Tweeter you’re going to #FF and attract attention to your own stream.   Add some value and you’ll be engaging. I love seeing that someone has #FFd me.   If you’re one of those people who do, big thanks â€" it gives me a warm glow. We liked this article so much that Jorgen decided to interview Lisa  to get the low-down on #FollowFriday: