I’m not a huge fan of Twitter’s #FollowFriday campaign that the masses seem to love. Why should I follow someone just because someone else mentions them in a tweet? I’m sure I’d benefit from following the majority of the names I see dancing down my screen every Friday, but I still prefer not to play that game. I want to know a little more about what that person has to offer, why exactly I should follow that person. So, I offer this post as an alternative. Here are 5 people that I follow, and I’ve listed a few reasons why you should too.
Paul Boag (boagworld)
Paul Boag has been building websites since 1994, right after Al Gore invented the web. He founded Headscape, a web design agency, and is getting ready to launch their 200th podcast. His Twitter posts consist of a variety of audioBoos, small tidbits of advice for the web development community, and links to relevant articles on his site or in elsewhere. The best part about his Twitter profile is that he isn’t afraid to connect with his community; he regularly asks his followers questions. He knows that with an ever-evolving world wide web, you have to rely on peers to get the best answers.
Webdesigner Depot (DesignerDepot)
In the web design/development world, Webdesigner Depot has a great blog that is updated several times a day. The Twitter account functions kind of like an RSS feeder on steroids. Updates to the site are announced through Twitter, and rarely do you see the same update advertised more than once in Twitter. The blog is always on the lookout for guest writers, and when they’re looking for a few candidates, they’ll announce that on Twitter as well.
Guy Kawasaki (GuyKawasaki)
If your profession is even somewhat related to computers, you’ve heard of this guy, so no need to get into a history lesson. His Twitter account shows over 85,000 tweets. Essentially all his tweets contain links to articles gathered by Alltop, a site he co-founded. Yes, he’s blatantly pushing his own product, but if the product is good, then why not?
SitePoint (sitepointdotcom)
SitePoint is another great profile for the web development community to follow. Their tweets point followers to relevant web design/development content, but the content seems to be newer than what others broadcast. They also will frequently give away design books and materials for free by holding contests for forum members or Twitter followers.
Tips, Tools, Status (Twitter_Tips)
No surprise here, the name says it all. Tweeting several times daily, the information they have to give is actually useful to the Twitter community. A lot of it may seem like common sense, but we all know that common sense is a quality that many people lack. The great thing about their updates is that you’ll also catch wind of features within Twitter that you didn’t know were there to begin with. You can follow this profile and not have to worry about keeping up with the latest in Twitter technologies.
One more…
Of course, you can follow me on Twitter too!
One Comment
FergatROn
Hey Tucker,
I agree with you. I’m not a big fan of #followfriday, either. I don’t know how I heard about @boagworld, but I’ve been following him for a while. I’m not sure his tweets are great, but I sure do listen to his podcast.
There was one important person you forgot to suggest. His name is @FergatROn.