Follow Friday – April 16, 2010 #FF

I’ve been a bit lax the last several weeks in participating in Follow Friday on Twitter.  I always liked the concept and tried to do a couple good ones every Friday.  Over the past year or so (I think it’s closer to two) I found that I kept sharing the same folks.  While these tweeps are excellent to follow – great conversation, smart, helpful – I just felt I was repeating myself over & over again.

So last week Chris Brogan blogged about a different tactic to Follow Friday.  Such an obvious one that a person hates to admit they never thought of it (I hadn’t), though I’m sure he’s not the first to think of it.  Knowing Chris, he won’t mind if all of us borrow this one though.

Rather than try and cram as many twitter handles into that 140 characters, I’ll call out a handful of folks right here and tell you a little bit of why you should follow them.  Here goes.

• @MNHeadHunter – There was little doubt who was going to be my first #FF shout out. Friend, mentor, biz advisor, collaborator, critic, and cheerleader – Paul DeBettignies is a Minneapolis based independent IT Recruiter who’s helped more people than I can count in job search, career help, and more.  He’s also the biggest U of M sports fan in existence.
• @PhilGerb – If you don’t know Phil Gerbyshak, now is your chance to meet & follow him. Author of 10 Ways to Make It Great, Phil is a Milwaukee social media strategist, relationship geek, and lover of interesting things. His enthusiasm and fountain of ideas can help kick-start your business or blog, for either professional or personal interests.  Ask him about Milwaukee!
• @BryanPerson – Founder of Social Media Breakfast itself, Bryan Person is the guy I emailed back in 2007 about starting an SMB here in Minneapolis. Loved his advice of “why not you”. Originally from Boston, and now in Austin, Bryan is currently the “LiveWorld social media guy”.
• @lulugrimm – Looking for smart, witty, and a great example of how digital public relations professionals are using social media? Follow Lisa Grimm to find out how someone at the nexus of GenX/GenY embodies the best of characteristics of both. It also turns out that she’s a great speaker and moderator of panels.
• @donmball – Cofounder of CoCoMSP and Unsummit, Don Ball is a great resource in the St. Paul & Minneapolis are for freelance, independent contractors/consultants and startups in general.  Supportive, idea rich and willing to share his enthusiasm for you to succeed is how I describe Don.

Okay, that’s a good start for today.  I’ll work at doing a better job (read: more) next week, but it’s hard to pic a handful of really good, valuable people out of so many I know and write a short blurb about them.  Or it could be that it’s late on Friday and I’m looking for a way to get this posted while it still is Friday.

😉

In any case, check out these great folks and let me know some of your suggestions below.  I’m sure there’s many I haven’t met yet that I’d really like to talk with. Now go have a great weekend!