Since starting to use Twitter a couple of years ago I haven’t used the #FollowFriday hash tag that often, but this week something changed my mind.

I’d always felt awkward using FollowFriday, it was as though I was asking to be noticed for recommending someone else. Which would lead to perpetual back slapping and “back at ya” tweets that seemed of little value. In it’s initial incarnation #FollowFriday, or #ff, was a good way to find interesting people to follow on Twitter, especially when few directories existed and the Twitter population was quite low. Now with a multitude of ways to find people of interest to follow and connect with, it doesn’t seem as important. A lot of the time FollowFridays are just being used to thank people for ReTweeting, not particularly as a recommendation to follow them.

This week my opinion changed, due to a FollowFriday I received from someone I have worked with for the last couple of years. It was in response to some help I had given them for which they were extremely grateful and it was their way of saying an additional thank you. This act of kindness made me realise that I had missed out on the idea of using FollowFriday for the right reasons. Using it to recommend people, so that others may benefit from their experience and knowledge.

So I will be trying to use FollowFriday more often from now on for exactly that purpose, below is an explanation my #ff from this week:

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My FollowFriday Explained:

• @realaletoday Simon is a great advocate of real ale. His extremely popular YouTube channel is one of the top places in Europe for video Beer Reviews.
• @lovefreshhq a new UK start up that is doing the right thing helping you locate locally sourced produce. They had a tough time this week when O2 mistakenly censored their application.
• @johnaguiar John may not be as famous as Chris Brogan but his blog is a valuable resource for new and experienced bloggers alike.
• @rowley Rowley publishes a fantastic music podcast, DarkCompass, with a wide range of new and undiscovered artists.
• @richardmackney Designer, photographer and beer lover, Richard was showing off a particularly neat Blogger theme design this week.
• @laxfieldpub Bob runs the fascinating Kings Head in Laxfield, a great character who is just getting to grips with new technology.
• @angelwangford A local award winning pub using Twitter to great effect to promote their business.
• @beerfaerie A work colleague who has successfully helped to promote the use of Social Media within Adnams.
• @juanflx A kindred spirit who very kindly sent my details out to his followers.
• @solebear Our Head Brewer, who amazes me with his ability to fit in writing, tweeting and video presentations along with producing some of the best cask ale I have ever tasted. Yes I am biased!
• @paulbaldovin I have never personally met Paul but our paths seem to cross almost daily on Twitter as we tend to find a common interest in most things Apple related.

So that’s the thought behind my #FollowFriday, what was yours?