A while ago, back in the day, I did a video blog post about “What is #FollowFriday?” back when #FollowFriday on Twitter was this new and exciting thing. Since then, I think most of us have lost sight about what #FollowFriday really is about.

See this? This is Twitter name vomit.

On Twitter, #FollowFriday is really a way for us to tell our friends and followers who we LOVE on Twitter and, of course, give props to those awesome Twitter rockstars.

Now, all #FollowFriday has become is a bunch of Twitter-name-vomit.

And that’s sad. When you rock out #FollowFriday with a gazillion (I still say that’s a real number) Twitter names, they all become lip-service and get lost in the mix.

How many times do you see a #FollowFriday on Twitter now and actually check out each individual name? I am going to bet that it’s not very often.

So here’s my tip this week: take some extra time with #FollowFriday and say no to name-vomiting. Instead, choose ONE person to give props to in each tweet and tell your followers WHY they are awesome.

Give your followers a reason to follow the people you love.

For example, I gave #FollowFriday props to two of my good friends Beau and Kristen. Here’s my tweet on #FollowFriday for them:

TELL your Followers WHY they're awesome!

Shameless plug? Sure, but the message is short, simple, and tells my followers why these people are awesome. Why not spread your #FollowFriday messages out throughout the day? Even more meaningful, write a blog post giving props to those people you love. That’ll really make them feel awesome and give even more credibility to your suggestions. Try it out this week. I bet you that people will be more likely to listen. Otherwise, it’ll be just a big jumble of names. Ya heard?!

So say NO to #FollowFriday-Twitter-Name-Vomit.

Love your followers and love those you follow and they’ll love you back. Word.

Social Media TIP OF THE WEEK: A Better #FollowFriday from Molly Buckley on Vimeo.

All for now.

Disagree. Yes. I said it. Disagree.

Now, this is, of course, coming from yours truly who is, by nature, a people pleaser and I hate disagreeing. What? Molly hates something? Yes, and that’s negativity and disagreement. I come from an uber-supportive family and I’m an improviser. In improv, we are told that disagreement on stage is nothing but wasted time. Our philosophy, “Yes, and…” tells us as improvisers that we support and we agree with our scene partner 100% AND to add new and interesting information. If you and I were on stage and you handed me an imaginary cat and I responded by saying, “NO! That’s a dog!” – then that would be disagreement and the audience would immediately check out and loathe what was happening on stage. So, what does this point have to do with Social Media? And why on earth would I tell you to do something I, myself, am not even good at. Because I can, that’s why.

Now, I don’t want you to go out there and disagree just to be a jerk or piss people off. My point is that I want you to form your OWN opinion and that you don’t ALWAYS have to agree with people. Discussion and dialogue are at the crux of building relationships and, ultimately, a strong community. If we all agreed 100% of the time, life would be pretty one-sided and a whole lotta tunnel vision would be going on.

It’s important to listen to other’s opinions and take in each other’s perspectives. I learned this lesson very early on. My mother was a very liberal democrat and my father was a very conservative republican – they might not have always seen eye-to-eye, but they always appreciated each other’s opinions and took their perspectives into account – this almost made their relationship stronger. But this isn’t a relationship blog.

So here is your challenge: the next time you read a tweet, a Facebook status update, a blog post, or check out an article – find a way to, politely of course, disagree. Challenge an argument. Start a healthy discussion and see what comes out of it. See what you can learn.

Now, don’t be a jerk and don’t fight with people. There is a point where you can go too far. But I believe you can always learn from people who see things differently than you. But, you don’t have to agree with me, of course.

Social Media TIP OF THE WEEK: Disagree from Molly Buckley on Vimeo.

All for now.

With the new re-vamp and new look of Facebook groups, I’m getting this question… a lot: “What’s the difference between a Facebook Group and a Facebook Fan page and why should I use one or the other?” (Many groups have been around for a long time and can no longer be changed into a Fan page… making this a royal pain in the butt for some users. Especially those users in the Guinness Book-1,000,000,000-users-or-something-like-that-group on Facebook). I, personally, prefer Fan pages.

I'm on Facebook, too!

Here’s the lowdown/breakdown/411:

FAN PAGES:

• ALLOW for custom usernames above 25 fans
• Are BETTER for building a long-term relationship with users and allow for an easier connection
• CAN send updates to an unlimited amount of users/fans (no set number)
• CAN create, manage, and publish events
• CAN send updates to Twitter
• CAN import blog posts and write notes
• CAN create an advertisement on Facebook for Fan page
• All updates, likes, photos, videos, etc. ARE published on Fan’s news and mini feed
• Easier to put in search
• You CAN customize/code tabs on Fan pages to better suit your needs

GROUPS:

• Have ugly URL’s – they don’t allow for a custom URL
• CAN create, manage, and publish events
• CAN’T advertise group through Facebook
• Are BETTER suited for fostering a quick, active discussion, or a cause (they’re not set-up for a really active long-term connection with users)
• DON’T have note/blog capability
• CAN’T send updates to Twitter
• Updates DON’T appear on the news and mini feed of users
• CAN bulk-invite users (which is harder for pages to do… pages can only “suggest” to users)
• DOESN’T show up in search engines

Ultimately, in my honest opinion, it’s a matter of comparing red apples with green apples. They’re similar, yet they are still very different. I believe a Fan page really helps to foster a positive connection with users and a particular brand, idea, person, or campaign. Groups don’t foster this type of interaction and atmosphere. I advise you to look at some groups you are a part of and then look at some pages you are a Fan of, what is the difference that you see? Do you see more interaction on the Fan pages or within the group? Let me know what you think.

BTW: Here are some great Facebook Fan Pages (both large and small) that I think are really doing what works and engaging their audience (and I am definitely part of that audience, but regardless, what they are doing is still totally awesome):

1. Livestrong
2. Chipotle
3. Lilly Pulitzer
4. The Onion
5. Richmond.com

I hope that helps. At least for now, until Facebook decides to change their layout again…

All for now.

I got to really thinking a lot this week. I have a post coming soon about education in general, but I wanted to really drive home this idea of educating YOURSELF. Especially with regards to social media (but honestly, this TIP can be applied to any topic or trade). Social media, as we all know, is changing every day. Three, even two years ago, people didn’t know what to think of social media, let alone understand it, implement it, and become an expert at it. That’s why I want to really emphasize how important it is to EDUCATE YOURSELF.

No matter how long you have been in your field, 10 minutes, 10 years, 10 centuries, you will never know everything. So take the time to go out and expand your horizons. Read a new blog this week, go to coffee with someone and learn more about what they do, attend a conference (Social Media Business Forum, anyone? I’ll be there!), go to a #Tweetup (DEEP FRIED #TriangleTweetup, anyone? I’ll be there!), or simply ask a question that you don’t know the answer to. It’s okay to ask questions. Trust me, as a former high school English teacher, I know that there ARE no dumb questions. It’s dumb to not ask if you don’t know. Ah, You get my point. Learn from someone else. Know that you don’t know.

So go out there, learn something new, and then share what you learned! Come back and comment on my blog and tell me what you learned - because I want to learn from You!  Watch the video. Learn something. Then teach me!

All for now.