#FollowFriday or #FF is a Twitter tradition. Every week, people list users they recommend you follow. Often, these lists are just random sets of names. If you see a list that simply says “#FollowFriday these fab peeps @joe, @mary, @doug, @george,” why would you follow any of them, except, perhaps, out of pure idle curiosity? Whereas, if someone posts “Don’t we all love @JammieWF ?? He’s like a snarkier (and more consistent at posting) Drudge. #ff” as did LilMissTeamOffense, then you know right away why you want (or don’t want, depending on your politics, perhaps) to follow JammieWF.
Follow Friday has been overrun by spammers lately. It would be great to take it back. In order to do that, all you have to do is be mindful of the tweets you like. I keep a private list of #FF folk. I add to it when I see a user consistently post great material. And then I give them a shout out on Friday, or some other day.
Someone like @zaibatsu, with nearly 500,000 followers, is a little tired of #FollowFriday. So, he recently posted “Instead of #followfriday pls donate 1 tweet/day to #KidsAreHeroes. I did.http://bit.ly/gcn4Yk #DT @KidsAreHeroes.” Not a bad alternative, either.
So, #FollowFRiday recommendations are only worthwhile is they are meaningful and thoughtfully written. Take the time to do it well. You’ll make the people you recommend feel good, they’ll respect the work you did, and they might actually get some new followers. As for you, it builds good Twitter karma. You’ll likely get a #FF or two back – or some other reciprocal pleasantry – over time.