Anyone who has been on Twitter longer than 7 days has come across the #followfriday hashtag. Initially one may think it’s a misspelling. Perhaps some sort of technology problem caused by Twitter (cough, fail whale, cough). However, soon enough each Twitterer will learn that #followfriday is how you recommend someone you follow to all of your followers. The Twitter equivalent of introducing your friend when they arrive at a party. Though clumsily implemented, the concept is brilliant.

How Did It Go Wrong?

I now cringe while booting up my TweetDeck each Friday knowing that I will be deluged for the next few hours by a constant stream of worthless #followfriday recommendations. You know what I’m talking about. 140 characters worth of @RandomNewFollower @MyBuddy @ClientTwitterAccount @Girlfriend/BoyfriendWhoSucksAtTwitter followed by/preceded by #followfriday with the hope of pumping up the follower count of the aforementioned Tweeple.

But what is wrong with that you say? These are my friends/clients/followers and I really do think you should follow them.

Okay.

Great.

But why? Why should I follow these people? I know you only have 140 characters, but throw me a bone here. Tell me that @RandomNewFollower is an awesome mountain biker. Tell me that @MyBuddy is the best Guitar Hero drummer you have ever seen. Tell me that @GirlfriendWhoSucksAtTwitter is really into sewing. That way I know that I want to follow @RandomNewFollower because we share an interest in mountain biking and I don’t want to follow @MyBuddy or @GirlfriendWhoSucksAtTwitter. I’m sorry if it hurts your feelings or hurts their feelings when I don’t follow them. Get over it.

How To Fix It

All I ask is for you to put a little thought into your #followfriday tweet and tell me why I should follow the Twitterer you’re recommending. Allow me to demonstrate – “@BuyPlumbing to get great deals on faucets, toilets, sinks & tubs. #followfriday”. See, pretty easy. Not to mention that the followers your friends get will already have a starting point for their conversation. Now go, and sin no more!