Follow Friday โ€“ April 16, 2010 #FF

Follow Friday Icon Iโ€™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 itโ€™s closer to two) I found that I kept sharing the same folks.  While these tweeps are excellent to follow โ€“ great conversation, smart, helpful โ€“ 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 hadnโ€™t), though Iโ€™m sure heโ€™s not the first to think of it.  Knowing Chris, he wonโ€™t mind if all of us borrow this one though.

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

  • Paul DeBettignies (MNHeadhunter) @MNHeadHunter โ€“ There was little doubt who was going to be my first #FF shout out. Friend, mentor, biz advisor, collaborator, critic, and cheerleader โ€“ Paul DeBettignies is a Minneapolis based independent IT Recruiter whoโ€™s helped more people than I can count in job search, career help, and more.  Heโ€™s also the biggest U of M sports fan in existence.
  • Phil Gerbyshak (@PhilGerb) @PhilGerb โ€“ If you donโ€™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!
  • Bryan Person (@BryanPerson) @BryanPerson โ€“ 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 โ€œwhy not youโ€. Originally from Boston, and now in Austin, Bryan is currently the โ€œLiveWorld social media guyโ€.
  • Lisa Grimm (@lulugrimm) @lulugrimm โ€“ 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 sheโ€™s a great speaker and moderator of panels.
  • Don Ball (@donmball) @donmball โ€“ 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, thatโ€™s a good start for today.  Iโ€™ll work at doing a better job (read: more) next week, but itโ€™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 itโ€™s late on Friday and Iโ€™m looking for a way to get this posted while it still is Friday.

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In any case, check out these great folks and let me know some of your suggestions below.  Iโ€™m sure thereโ€™s many I havenโ€™t met yet that Iโ€™d really like to talk with. Now go have a great weekend!

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