Follow Friday - and Why!

Twitter's "Follow Friday" concept, where users post a small list of their most appreciated followers, tends to be annoying after a while.  Some, if they're mentioned in a #FollowFriday post, will retweet that post, thereby sharing all others on the list as well. If just two or three followers repost, everyone else on the list is flooded with multiple notifications.

I thought I would try something that might provide a little more value in the spirit of Follow Friday. Instead of simply listing users in a tweet, I'll tweet a Follow Friday link, and bring any interested Twitter users here, where they can see not only who I'm recognizing this week, but why. For all concerned, this might be a more productive approach to sharing and generating followers.

So, here is my list for Friday, March 28, 2014 - along with their Twitter Profiles - and a comment or two from me!

@wyld_stallyn
I make short movies promoting animal shelters because it's the badass thing to do youtube.com/CountyofSDDAS
[My nephew and partner in RoadTrip crime - and a writer of award-winning screenplays]

@TheBookScrubber

I edit, therefore I am. thebookscrubber.com

[My niece and owner of this editing/proofreading service - without her, my book wouldn't have seen the light of day!]

@SymposiaBooks 

Hudson County's last & only bookstore! We sponsor community events and buy/sell used books. Our space is available for rental. Support our mission

[I'm on the other side of the country from SymposiaBooks, but I appreciate that they will retweet my book news!]

@TheKindleWhispe 

#USAF Vet, Ret #EMS, #indieuthor of Trauma Junkie, #scifi Shades of Amber, Screenwriter & Future #showrunner, Join KM & I will tweet the SH&T outta your books.

[Another faithful retweeter of my book news!]

@RashaGoel
Entrepreneur, veggie food junkie, and owner of Bollywood Step Dance! Kinda nice, sorta naughty!

[Good Friend, has appeared in one of my documentaries, and sometime collaborator]

@FloresFamilyFun

We are on Youtube at youtube.com/user/TammyFlor… youtube.com/user/coolas781

[The Flores Family provided some great feedback as I wrote my first book! I call them my Canadian Contingent]

@ChristinaKenway

Author of the middle grade novel, The Dragonlord's Heir, and the Ascalon Trilogy. Cosplayer, gamer, and lover of all things Batman.

[I think I last met Christina when she was about a year old. Thanks to Facebook (and her grandmother), I can follow the emergence of this YA author!]

@andymooseman
Managing Editor of The Stinger magazine, Co-founder of Pierless Music, Radio DJ, vlogger, blogger, music lover, ex-Drummer, blah, blah, blah.
[Resident of Hastings UK, I first met Andy during a Santa Monica YouTube meet-up in 2010, and caught up with him in Hastings in 2013]

@kenrg
Just a guy who spends too much time online  kengoldstein.ca
[We go WAY back. I could tell ya stories. An old high school friend and YouTube/social media veteran]

[I keep threatening to make a documentary about a certain Florida family that's dedicated to YouTube - here they are!]

@HappySuuz

People know me as FUR's mom - But I make videos too! :) Love GOD, my family, YouTube, the Keys and Disney!  youtube.com/HappySuuz

[The Mom. These kids have incredibly cool parents that fully support YouTube madness- one of the reasons I'd still like to make the documentary]

@Fur24

I'm FUR! Yes, MY NAME IS FUR! :) I'm a 16 yr old who shares my life and personality making content for YouTube - so... WHAT THE FUR!?! - JOIN ME! :) youtube.com/FUR

[Aspiring filmmaker, writer, and dedicated YouTuber]

@AntinnyWorld

I am me, you are you, and we are in my world now. Welcome to My World!

Look behind you  ·  youtube.com/AntinnyWorld

[YouTuber, Musician - and he wrote a fantastic review of my book. I quote him]

@DrewDudeTV

I LOVE making Youtube videos, playing video games, doing art, watching TOBUSCUS, CRUSHING ON JENNIFER LAWRENCE, Spending time with God and my family! :)    youtube.com/DrewDudeTV

[11 years old, emerging YouTubers - and he bears a striking physical resemblance to Alexander, the main character in my novel - if I can afford to get down to Florida, he just might be in a book trailer...]

Storytelling, Twitter Style - The Results

I've completed my first experiment in "Twitter Storytelling," @NoWedgiesForMe, consisting of forty-one tweets between December 12th and 20th in the voice of Alexander, the protagonist in my book, "My Life at the Bottom of the Food Chain."

In concept, I find the idea fascinating: telling a story in "real time," through the intimate perspective of a fictional character and the 140-character brevity of a tweet. Minimal description, combined with what is essentially a stream-of-consciousness illusion could create an engaging story.

In practice, I enjoyed the creation of forty one tweets, which told a uniquely "Alexander" story, in which his wildly active imagination led him to the conclusion that he would be the victim of a horrible prank on the last day before school was out for the holidays. His panic builds until the last hours of the last day, when he's not the recipient of a horrible prank, but a mysterious wrapped gift from his supposed enemies, and a request "not to open before Christmas." With that cliffhanger, I concluded the test.

This wasn't a wide test - @NoWedgiesForMe has only seven followers - but putting the concept into practice left with with several questions to consider:

1. How might this concept best be applied? Is this Twitter account an opportunity to tell an entirely new, ongoing story - or should it reflect the existing (and future) book more directly? 
2. What is the ultimate objective? Is this simply added-value content?
3. Should Alexander's story exist across several platforms that cross-promote - Twitter, and a blog, for example? Instagram and other platforms might also be part of Alexander's world - but naturally require a much larger investment in time and resources to create a photo record of Alexander's fictional life.
4. How can I make sure that people actually see these tweets? While the real time concept is intriguing - a Twitter feed is constantly moving. The "authenticity" of Alexander tweeting in real time probably translates into the fact that most followers would never see his tweets. Most Twitter users don't search back in their timeline too far.  Will anyone really see what Alexander tweets at 7:30 or 10 am? 

Gary Vaynerchuk, one of the most well-respected experts on the use social media (Crush It, among other titles), recently posted a opinion in favor of tweeting the same message multiple times - to make certain that users in different time zones might see the same message (i.e. a 9am tweet on the east coast is likely to be missed by someone on the west coast, so that same tweet might be repeated at 9 am Pacific time).  This would make sense in the case of @NoWedgiesForMe, but a second phase of this experiment would need to explore a new methodology in order to maintain Alexander's voice.  After all, he wouldn't have typically retweeted most of the 41 existing tweets.

I'm considering the lessons of the small, first attempt, and in the new year I'll adjust the concept and try again - stay tuned!

Have you seen a similar concept in practice?  Let me know!

Previous blogs on this topic:
Getting Real: My Protagonist Tweets!
Alexander's Tweets @NoWedgiesForMe (Update)

Alexander's Tweets @NoWedgiesForMe (Update)

Almost a week ago, I began an experiment in, for the lack of a better term, Twitter Storytelling. I've created a Twitter account [@NoWedgiesForMe] for Alexander, the central protagonist in my novel, "My Life at the Bottom of the Food Chain." I know that there are numerous experiments going on that are along these lines, and I liked the idea of creating a supplementary "reality" for the universe by the book and it's upcoming follow-up. 


The big question - will people actually see these tweets? I don't usually search back on your earlier tweets - I'll read what you tweet now. Do I need to make Alexander a habitual repeat tweeter, so that people will actually see these?  Or, do I simply use the Twitter account as a basis to create updates elsewhere (here, or on the Facebook page, for example).  If a reader is more interested, then they can follow on Twitter directly.  What do you think?

The Story So Far:

As winter vacation looms, Alexander gets nervous that bullies might plan something on the last school day before the holidays...