We click! And other thoughts on Follow Friday

If you're on Twitter, you're probably familiar with Follow Friday, a recurrent theme where tweeters spread good cheer by raving about the fellow followers they are either smitten with, or have just met, or think are incredibly cool in regards to their ability to share mind-pausing worldly wisdom or highly acclaimed foolishness -- all in 140 characters or less. Whatever the case may be, these folks have come to be respected for one reason or another within one of thousands of tweeting-networking streams; and thus, they get a shout-out on Follow Friday.

In my experience, Follow Friday comes loaded with the proverbial basket of good feelings. For one thing, it's always nice to realize that you were remembered by another person in a Follow Friday tweet. At the very least, it makes me smile to know that someone was thinking of me. At the very most, it provides an opportunity to venture out and mingle. It's like Speed Dating, without the uncomfortable face-to-face encounters that some might otherwise endure.

Whenever I'm mentioned within a group of #FollowFriday tweets, I consider it to come with a nod from the Tweeter to go ahead and see whom I'm grouped with. I've been lucky enough to have met some great friends this way--friendships that have been fed by sharing silly streams of off-the-wall-jokes, nudges of encouragement for goals being sought or accomplished, and virtual hugs when support has been needed.

For these reasons, I've come to think of Follow Friday more than just Speed Dating. I prefer to think of it as Match-Making. When I send a #FF tweet, I like to pick and chose Tweeters that may not know one another, but might be a good fit. And if folks in my tweet already know one another, then I like to think of it as waving a group flag, and bringing the attention back around to people I think are wonderful.

All in all, I love Follow Friday, because beating at the heart of it all is a resounding message of "We click!" You never know what might be waiting behind that twitter handle door.

With whom do you click? Feel free to share your own faves here.