Why I’m not playing #FollowFriday anymore
by that damn redhead on March 13, 2009
in Rants, Social Media, twitter
There’s been a meme going around on Twitter for a while on Fridays known as #FollowFriday, whereby people tweet a list of names of fellow Tweeters and follow the list by the hashtag “#FollowFriday.” I think it’s meant to suggest to other followers people that they feel are worth following, thereby increasing the followers of the people they’ve plugged. I think it’s kind of stupid, but I’ll admit that I’ve done it.
Well I’m not playing anymore, and here’s why:
People seem to plug me a lot for #FollowFriday, and I’m not sure why because I honestly don’t think I’m that interesting. But in the past couple weeks I’ve actually gotten direct messages from people who have plugged me that were upset that I didn’t promote them back. To that, I have to say this:
Cry me a frickin’ river.
There was no method to my madness of whomever I picked to promote for this stupid meme. I clicked the names of whatever people were visible in the various sections of my TweetDeck at the time. Why? Because I think all the people I’m following are worth following. If I didn’t feel this way, I wouldn’t be following them in the first place.
I’m not on Twitter for some kind of juvenile popularity contest, I left that school of thought in 10th grade. I’m on Twitter because I kinda have Shiny Object Syndrome and one day in April 2007, while watching a hockey game and having an IM conversation with @mediaphyter (I knew her then as “RockEmSockEmJen” or something like that on a now-defunct social network known as Consumating), I somehow found it and said, “Ooh, this looks interesting!” and signed up. Then last year it exploded, and now I’m on Twitter to meet people, to network, to learn from people, and to have fun.
That said, I’m sick of seeing blog posts and topics in LinkedIn groups on how to get 1,000s of followers. Really, why would somebody even want that many? My sense of self-worth isn’t correlated with the number of people that follow me on Twitter, and if yours is, then you have much bigger problems.
Granted, as I type this I have over 1,600 followers, but as I said, I’m not sure why because I’m not that interesting. If I lose followers as a result of this post, guess what? I don’t care. I’d rather have a smaller group of followers that I learn from and interact with than a gazillion faceless people who are nothing more than numbers to pad my stats and self-esteem.
Think about that one.
So if you follow me and want to plug me on #FollowFriday, I can’t stop you, but I’m not plugging you back. If your feelings are that fragile that it really matters, then you should unfollow me right now — in case you haven’t noticed, I’m not exactly politically correct or Little Miss Sunshine all the time. If I follow you, I feel that you’re interesting enough that you’re worth following, but I’m not playing favorites, I’m not treating anyone with kid gloves, and I’m not playing the #FollowFriday meme anymore.
So bite me.
Photo 1 by climbnh2003, photo 2 by evilpeacock.
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If you really loved me, you’d give me a bunny hat like that one for my birthday.
Danko Ramone’s last blog post..Falling is easy, failing is a bitch
You go girl! Have to say I haven’t once participated in follow friday. The concept is decent. It just fails to deliver any significance. Particularly since you point out that even you have just picked followers at random to share. Where’s the relevance?
Nicole “The Card Eagle” Bandes’s last blog post..Relationships of the Heart “Link”
I completely see where you are coming from, Stacy. I get the point of #FollowFriday, but I just tweeted earlier today that I choose not to participate it in because I follow everyone for a reason – so why call out a select few? I will give a shout out back to someone who recommends me for #FollowFriday because I’m appreciative, but I haven’t actively tweeted my own #FollowFriday list. Very good insight in this post!
Nikki’s last blog post..Kalamazoo Gazette Reporter Shows Love for Motown
I agree with much of what you say, and I’ve also fallen into the trap of just “doing” a Follow Friday and selecting a few names from my current stream.
The original concept though is a good one. It was about people saying to me “Hey Mike, I’ve been talking to Joe here, who’s also a scuba diver, maybe you should connect with him.” Sadly, many people’s never ending quest for more and more followers has turned it into a pathetic weekly follow fest.
Mike CJ’s last blog post..Mike’s Life POW 13th March 2009
That’s the same conclusion I reached – at least 30 or 40% of the people just want themselves promoted & it has nothing to do with YOU.
Makes me sick.
Also in many cases it’s just a lot of ego masturbation.
I disagree with you that having followers is stupid, but I agree with you that having followers for popularity is stupid. You’ll enjoy the recent post of mine below…
Ari Herzog’s last blog post..Jimmy Fallon Pushes Twitter to the Absurd
@Ari I never said that having followers was stupid, I said that the MEME was stupid.
@Mike I do like the concept of introducing people that have things in common. I’ve done that on Twitter for people to meet in real life, and that’s cool. It’s just the people who are like, “OMG I’m at X amount of followers, I need X many more to reach X” and people that are like, “Here’s how to increase your followers by the THOUSANDS!” Really, what’s the point?
You just proved your theory of not being interesting wrong
It is because of posts like this that I follow you and find you interesting. And I believe others do to.
For me the follow meme has always been about sharing with others people I have met who I feel are interesting and cool. I don’t do it in hopes that I get a re-plug. That really isn’t healthy.
DaveMurr’s last blog post..Pregnancy Leads to Fear of Twitter
I agree that it shouldn’t be a popularity contest and you shouldn’t get all mad if someone doesn’t recommend you for #followfriday. Though, I think it does get you some exposure if you are looking for it.
I also agree that I don’t know why people find me interesting. I love my hockey folks that are nice enough to give me stats when I am at the game! I don’t know if I would have found them with out #followfriday.
There are some positives and minuses of everything. The main thing is to act like an adult and get over it.
Jamie Favreau’s last blog post..Featured in Jobsinminneapolis.com
I wasn’t very much interested in the Friday follow meme but did it last week just for the fun of it. Yeah, I did get a truckload of followers but obviously some didn’t like when I left them out. So, some 5-8 unfollowed me, thanks to Qwitter for the intimation. Well, I don’t think I will do it this time! One, I can’t satisfy everyone. Two, I don’t want my tweet my entire followers for the meme.
Hmm, yeah, I think you are right!
rampantheart’s last blog post..5 reasons why Indian politicians should start using Twitter
You crack me up! You are thoughtful AND funny. Love your photo choices, and the bunny hat is to die for.
Keep up the good work. I enjoy reading you.