I have decided to listen to my own advice and do a blog post with my Twitter #FollowFriday suggestions this week. YAY! And I’m even going to break it down into categories. Oh man, who’s excited?! I know I am.

COMEDIANS & ALL-AROUND FUNNY PEOPLE

• @BeauCribbs – I have known Beau for almost 3 years and his tweets make me laugh every single day. In fact, if he posts a tweet that isn’t funny, he immediately tweets after that apologizing for the unfunny tweet WITH a funny tweet. It’s ingenious. Oh, and he loves the Red Sox (boo) and The Office. What’s not to love? Well, the Red Sox for me…
• @CallMeKP – Kristen and I took an improv class together at the Second City Training Center in NYC a couple summers ago. She, like Beau, loves the Red Sox, The Office, and is incredibly witty. You won’t regret following this girl.
• @Pijornification – An awesome graphic designer. An incredible web developer. An even more incredible improviser, David Pijor is awesome. He’s so creative and always has something to offer.
• @zachward – He is the founder, executive producer, and director of the Dirty South Comedy Theater. He loves improv, he loves performing, and is the smartest, most business-savvy comedian I know. (I promise, I’m not biased on this one… )

SOCIAL MEDIA AWESOMENESS

• @WayneSutton – Wayne is a rockstar. No doubt about it. He’s a blogger, strategist, and social entrepreneur. He speaks all over the country, yet he calls Raleigh, NC home. How awesome is that? He offers great tips and always has great insight.
• @1918 – Not only is @1918 a Buckley (which makes him super awesome – no relation) Phil Buckley is funny, smart, and has a great sense for social media.
• @JeremySaid – Jeremy is the owner and CEO of Twine Interactive – and awesome media firm here in the Triangle. Jeremy is awesome. For reals. Trust me. Incredibly insightful, honest, and savvy.
• @DanSchawbel – Dan is THE personal branding guy. His tweets offer AWESOME resources and he offers GREAT advice. You’ll learn A LOT just by following him.

I JUST LOVE THEM

• @PunkRockHR & @lruettimann – Punk Rock HR IS Laurie Ruettimann. Laurie is my new BFF here in the Triangle, but that does not go without saying that Laurie is THE go-to woman for ANYTHING HR/job related/employment related. She speaks all over the country and writes an awesome blog called Punk Rock HR. I even had the honor of guest-posting on her blog last week. It was awesome! We enjoy getting drinks and eating olives. We’re fancy like that.
• @DSIWN – I would be lying if I didn’t say that I write for DSI Witness News, but DSI Witness News is awesome. Get hilarious updates and headlines – subscribe to the podcast. You love news? You love to laugh? You’ll love DSIWN.
• @GregLee – the marketing director for the Chapel Hill-Carrboro YMCA, Greg is an avid runner who has really inspired me to start running. He is going to help me as I start to train for a HALF-MARATHON. Holy crap, I can barely run 3 miles let alone 13.1… but Greg is awesome and is going to be a great source of inspiration for me.
• @colettewh –  Colette is my comedy-duo partner in our awesome improv team FEMMEBOIS. She is a funny lady and also a great inspiration. She just completed her first half-marathon this past weekend and also raised over $2,500 (on her own) for the Leukemia and Lymphoma society. Awesome. GO COLETTE!

PHEW! That was a lot. If I didn’t give props to you, don’t feel bad. I love you too! If I wrote about all the people I loved, well, that would take a long time. But I hope this helps.

You guys are awesome. Who are YOU #FollowFriday’ing?

All for now.

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.