Twitter is pretty amazing, yeah? What started out as a simple social networking medium (”I had toast for breakfast! It was wheat!”) has evolved into a format for social change. Events which normally would never make Western news because of media blocks, like the protests in Iran and the riots in China, are making great waves because of the viral ability of Twitter. Obviously it’s still used for the basic social networking function, but I love the ability of web-based media to evolve from its intended use into something potentially world-changing.
That being said…I cannot stand the Follow Friday trend. I get so effing bored reading tweet after tweet after tweet filled with dozens of usernames and the #followfriday hashtag. It’s fame-whoring for the common man, and I’m done with it. So I want to do something about it. I want to make #stopfollowfriday the new number one trend on Fridays. Every time you see a #followfriday tweet, post your own snarky or hateful comment about Follow Friday and use the #stopfollowfriday hashtag. Together we can join forces to end this gross trend, and get back to the things that really matter. (”My poo was teal this morning!”)
Bill Chandler is a writer from Dallas, TX. He loves video games, funny online videos, and is totally prepared for the upcoming zombie apocalypse.
I agree wholeheartedly about the influx and firehose of #followfriday…I’ve started to do one, single, specific recommendation every Friday under the hashtag of #3F (for Fussy Follow Friday). It is also tied back to a blog post that explains WHY I suggest following that person.
What’s interesting is that if you go back to the origins of #followfriday, it was never intended to be a massive dumping ground as it has become. It was supposed to be targeted and an actual recommendation system, which, of course, the mass population has completely perverted. Good job, mass population.