In the Dayton family (the family I grew up in), when it was somebody’s birthday we would have a big dinner- and as we were eating dinner we went around the table and would say what we liked most about the birthday boy. This was a great tradition because it helped to remind us that it did not matter how much your siblings fought with you sometimes, they still really cared about you. Follow Friday is kind of like the Dayton Family birthday dinner, except its every Friday.
For those of you not on Twitter, you have probably never heard of Follow Friday, or #followfriday as it affectionately referred to on Twitter. This is a day all about recommendations- sharing who you like and why. Its tough to say what you like best about people in just 140 characters, and so a few of my Twitter friends (Gini Dietrich and Julio Varela specifically) have written blog posts to go a little deeper in order to explain why they follow certain people- and what makes those individuals so darn interesting.
Here is my list. I have put it in a few different groups, but pay no attention to the order of the names. I love them all equally. (If you missed the cut this week, its not because I don’t love you- I just I didn’t have enough time to include everyone)
My Brothers (In real life)
Besides being one of the funniest people ON THE PLANET. Damian is a founding member of Kineto Pictures, a production studio out of Salt Lake City, Utah. This brother is extremely funny, just to give you an example- yesterday with all the MJ talk going on he set up this MJ memorial website- http://iheardthatmichaeljordandied.blogspot.com/
Brandon is a very talented artist, animator, and screen writer. He is currently designing video games for EA Games and on the side is putting together an awesome comic book Green Monk. You can see the progress of his comic book as he posts panels on a regular basis on his blog.
When we were kids growing up, Cameron would always get in trouble for drawing monsters during church. Now he designs monsters for Blizzard Entertainment, well actually he is a World Designer- but still pretty awesome. He is also one of the most handsome of the Dayton clan- and ladies, he’s single.
My First Friends on Twitter:
In a recent conversation with @melaniegreen about Gini, I mentioned that she should be class president of Twitter. Everybody loves Gini. The thing about Gini is that even though she is one of the busiest people I know and runs a highly profitable PR Agency in Chicago, she is one of the most accessible people on Twitter.
Julio is the man, I love talking social media with this guy. He always has great insights into baseball, music, and society in general. He used Twitter to bring his brother Fernando Varela (The Puerto Rican Pavoroti) single to #1 on itunes recently. This guy know how to tweet.
Justin is always cheerful and up for some great conversation. I am stoked to meet him this July in Chicago! Justin is currently working with non-profits and other groups to use Twitter and social media to build their brands.
Jeff is also know as the DJ of Twitter. He is always busting out great blip.com tracks that any followers can click on to listen to for free. He has also created a sweet website called Buzzcal that keeps people up to date on their favorite sports teams. I’m stoked to meet him in July as well!
Diana is also one of my Twitter friends from the early days. She helps companies that are trying to land government contract, and she shares great information on Twitter about he expertise. She has leveraged Twitter to build some amazing relationships, one of which got her quoted in the Wall Street Journal.
Phyllis is a good friend, and has been a great resource to me since I got on Twitter. She sells handcrafted jewelry to benefit a charity which she runs with her husband to help young children in Africa. Great person to follow, with great insights!
Law Types on Twitter (Lawyers and Legal Industry folks)
I had been following Alexis for months before meeting her at the Get A Life conference in Chicago, but I was blown away by how down to earth she was. She has been an awesome example to me of what good marketing can do for lawyers. She was also nice enough to come on my weekly podcast and share some of her secrets.
Debra has been an awesome mentor to me. She was willing to talk to me on the phone and give me much needed advice when I was first getting my business started. I have her to thank for letting me know about the InsideCounsel Superconference – where I met a number of other individuals on Today’s list.
The mystery man referred to as “Ed” has been able to keep his identity concealed for years as the brains behind the weekly blawgreview, the longest running weekly review of the best legal blogs each week. He has been kind enough to let me be the host of blawg review next week, so please come back and visit Monday!
Scott and I have had it out in recent months over Generation X, Y, and Baby Boomers. Sometimes our posts get pretty heated to each other, but I feel the need to recognize Scott is probably one of the best legal bloggers in the industry. His writing is really pretty amazing. If you follow him, he likely won’t follow you back- but it will be worth your while.
I met Allison a few weeks ago at the Get A Life conference in Chicago. We hit it off immediately. She has some great insights on billing, marketing, and managing law firms because she used to be a partner herself.
Niki is my fellow Western New York social media friend. She is spreading the social media love to Rochester, NY while I attempt to do the same for Buffalo, NY and the surrounding regions. Thanks to Niki I was able to meet some amazing people in Chicago. Niki is a great connector and she know her technology for law firms.
Gwynne knows her technology. I was privileged to meet her in Chicago at the Get a Life conference, and now she is helping me edit the book I am trying to finish about Twitter for lawyers.
Stephen is the founder of the Rainmaker Institute which has trained more than 6,000 attorneys on bringing in more business. Stephan is an extremely busy guy, but he is surprisingly accessible.
I didn’t realize Patrick Lamb was on Twitter until just a few minutes before I interviewed him for my weekly podcast. Since then I have received some great insights on books to read. You can hear his interview with me here.
Grant has a blog called http://blogforprofit.com This guys knows how to bring in business with blog, and he shared a ton of his secrets with me this week on the weekly Voir Dire. You can listen to it here.
Michelle is single-handedly bringing social media to Cornwall, Ontario. Follow her to see how it goes! We became acquainted through my tweets during the Chicago Get A Life Conference.
Legal blogger and change agent for the legal industry, Jay works to show companies how to keep employees happy and law firms a better way of doing business.
Lance was the first person to interview me after I got on Twitter. He has created an awesome twitter interview called 22tweets where he asks 11 questions, and there are 11 responses from the person getting interviewed. Very cool guy to follow.
Jim is a law librarian, but he isn’t just any old law librarian, he was my law librarian when I was at the University at Buffalo Law School. Back then I had no idea how famous he was, on Twitter that is. Jim post great info about podcasting, nutella, and Buffalo tweet-ups.
Non-law friends that I highly recommend
Chanty is my best friend…. in Australia. We are working together to put on a Social Media for Professionals conference in Perth and Melbourne Australia for this November. Chanty has some great insights into business, life, and building relationships.
Sarah is my partner in crime today in writing this #FF post. We agreed we would both finally write down why we like some people on Twitter so much. Sarah is also an amazing connector, and she has introduced me to a ton of great people. She also invented #tweepletuesday.
Liz knows EVERYBODY. She does virtual book tours for authors like Seth Godin and hopefully someday aspiring writers like myself. She gave me some amazing advice in a phone conversation last week, and I look forward to hiring her in the future to help promote my upcoming books.
Marc and I are kindred spirits. He coined the term “family first entrepreneur” and is a big believer that success in business doesn’t have to come at the expense of your family. His new book was just released, “ONO: Options Not Obligations” which I am reading right now. I highly recommend it.
Mari is the cupcake queen of Chicago, at least according to Twitter. Mari started marketing her cupcakes through Twitter- and started selling like crazy before her website was even completed! She personally delivered some cupcakes to me when I was in Chicago, and I’ll be honest- they are delicious.
Juli is kind of like the character in the martial arts film that is just standing in the background watching and then suddenly springs into action – taking everyone else apart. Except that instead of unleashing fists of fury, Juli unleashes marketing ideas.
I have Mike to thank for teaching me some of the basics on Twitter. When I was brand new to Twitter I was able to watch his Twittalk Tv show to learn what was going on. This guys knows his Twitter.
I am so glad to be friends with Denyse! I know I can always count on her to answer questions for me, or share my links. She still sometimes just sends me articles that she thinks I might be interested in. Very thoughtful twitter person to be following.
Fred was the first person in my life to ever interview me. He put the interview on his website http://thestrugglingentrepreneur.com – and then when I wanted to start my own podcast, he took over an hour with me on the phone teaching me how to do it! Fred is an awesome resource, and a great person to get to know on Twitter.
Whew! That was exhausting. Now follow these people! You won’t regret it.
6 Comments. Leave new
Thank you thank you thank you. And you put me over @jeffmello. Even better. Nice job.
What a brilliant idea for a blog post. I appreciate the time and thought you put into the recommendations and I’ve added many of the suggested people. Your brother Damian’s tribute blog gave me a great laugh for the day and I had to retweet it immediately. Now I need to look up what churros are…
Thanks brother. I found all those folk interesting as well.
Adrian, Thank you for your kind words. Love the martial arts analogy. Very much looking forward to spending some more time with you when you’re here in July. Nice job on the post. See you soon!!
Adrian I am so honored you included me on your first Follow Friday. I’m about to hit “publish” on mine, too!
Sarah
WOW, Adrian, you’ve placed tears within my eyes and blossoms in my heart. What an incredible honor it is to be on such a beautiful list! Thank you from my deepest recess’s of my soul.
Twitter has connected me with some incredible entrepreneurs and very business savvy people, such as yourself, all of whom are fast becoming precious friends. You hold value in my heart Adrian.
Thank you again for including my in your families table of honer list.
I’m really looking forward to our collaboration in November and the deepening of our friendship and meeting your gorgeous family
BTW Adrian this is the same thing my children and I also do for each other every year, it’s so powerful and adds immeasurable value to ones heart and uplifts our souls.
In humbling grace Chanty