From this point forward, I will not participate in #FollowFriday #ff on twitter.  Here’s why:

1.  It is rarely used correctly:

• For a hashtag to be effective, it has to be the same exact hashtag used by everyone.  The original #FollowFriday is commonly shortened to #ff and I’ve seen other derivatives.

• You can’t just mention as many peeps as you can fit in a tweet and not explain why it is they are being mentioned.  It is far better for you to randomly tweet about a peep and why they are interesting to you or may be interesting to anyone following you, IMO.   I imagine the only peeps clicking like mad on all those random lists are the social media “marketing gurus” trying to increase their numbers and perhaps some bot somewhere sniffing for just such tweets so it can add them to some tech that sends out the nasty spammy tweets (otherwise known as “speets“).

2.  Even when it is used correctly:

• You offend peeps. You don’t mean to. You just can’t mention each and every one of your peeps each and every Friday.  This means somewhere along the line, the peeps not mentioned are going to go “hmmmm”.  It’s just human nature.

Don’t believe me?  I attended a lunch last week where I met face to face with an attorney I had interacted with through twitter and the ABA’s Solosez list serv.  She was offended.  She didn’t mean to be and she even felt odd  saying anything.  Since I’m all about feedback, I’m happy she did but at the same time, it made me I felt horrible. The last thing I want to do is negatively affect another human being. I’m a positive peep (or at least I try to be).

Just as I had not intended for her to feel slighted, she also did not mean to make me feel bad by saying something.  But that’s what happened.  So here we both were, feeling bad about a new relationship, all because of #followfriday.  No good.

This is why I will no longer participate in #followfriday.

So to all those peeps  I have ever #Follow Friday #ff, please don’t be offended if it never happens again.  You know I ? ya!

To all the peeps who add me to your #ff lists – please, please don’t be offended that I’m not doing it back (and maybe consider random recommendations yourself rather than participating in #ff).

And, most certainly, to any peep of mine who ever felt slighted that you were not on one of my #Follow Friday lists – DM me.  We need to talk.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 28th, 2009 at 4:54 am and is filed under legaltypist. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.