Kevin Vandever

Here is this week’s #followfriday recommendation list.

@kirstenwright. I met Kirsten earlier this year to discuss business ideas and opportunities. She is very smart, a talented graphic designer and writer, and she really understands the social networking world. In addition to following her, you should also check out her blog at wrightcreativity.

@desireekoh13. Desiree’s bio speaks to her better than I can: Cubs fou, Springsteen wife, hot dog connoisseur, cheese fries lobbyist, beer guzzler, pizza president, ice cream savant, tri/marathon finisher, Himalayan yak. I will only add that she lives and loves life to the fullest and somehow manages to fit a successful writing career in there somewhere. Follow this woman now!

@kerbehr. I knew Kerri in real life before I knew her on Twitter (wow, is that even possible?). She is a good friend and fellow Behr associate, who has been given the daunting tasks to research how social media (SM) can help Behr, sell to the executives why Behr should engage in SM, and after she is successful with the first two tasks, help with implementation of Behr’s SM strategy. You should follow Kerri because she is a great person and because she would like share and learn SM-related experiences. Try not to hold against her the fact that she is a Clemson grad.

@VinoLvr. I also know Corina in real life and have known her for over twenty years. Follow her because she has GREAT taste in husbands and also because she is spontaneous, funny, loving, smart, no pushover, and is extremely knowledgeable in all aspects of the wine world. She will throw up when she reads this.

@papijulio. If I had put together this list yesterday, Papi Julio would not have been included, and that is because I did not know him on Twitter or in real life. However, I had the opportunity to meet this man in person last night at a small gathering with his son, @julito77 (a #followfriday recommendation from last week) and I now highly recommend you follow him and, better yet, figure out a way to meet him in person. He is kind, funny, and has a refreshing and positive outlook on life.

written by Kevin Vandever \\ tags: #followfriday, Twitter

I have not engaged much in Twitter’s Follow Friday(hashtag #followfriday) up to now. It is not because I don’t believe in the concept. I have recommended that my current followers follow someone new but those recommendations were few and far between. My primary reason for not engaging was the flooding of Follow Friday tweets seemingly without much thought, even to the extent that some were cramming as many people as they could into 140 characters, shortening the #followfriday hashtag to #ff and tweeting away. That didn’t sit well with me and sometimes turned #followfriday into #unfollowfriday.

Lately, I’ve noticed that some folks have written blog entries for their Follow Friday recommendations. I like this idea because it will allow me to explain why I am recommending a certain person and I will also be able to keep track of who I recommended in the past, which might be fun. More recently, I have seen a couple video #followfriday recommendations and that really appeals to me, and is what I was planning to do today; however, I had some technical difficulties with my camera — and by technical difficulties I mean the battery was drained and I didn’t have time to recharge, get the #followfriday video out, and make it to work on time — so instead I will follow the advice of my brother, who says that I have a face for blogging, not video blogging, and write out my first ever #followfriday blog entry. This week’s 5 are as follows:

@ginidietrich I am not the first to add Gini to the top of a #followfriday list and I am certainly not the last. I have never met her in person, but I feel like I know her and that we are becoming fast friends. If you only follower her for her wisdom on social media and business savvy/expertise as the CEO of her own PR/Communications firm you are wise, but there is so much more to Gini. She is an avid (obsessive, competitive, insane) cyclist, a Chicago Bear fan, and can take a joke and ribbing as well as she can give it. We have discussed business ideas, fitness goals, and potential recipes for a future cook-off all through Twitter and a couple email messages. She once challenged me to make her laugh by sending her direct messages (DMs) while she was doing a live radio show. I failed to make her laugh on the air, but I don’t think I failed to forge a friendship.

@champsuperstar Champ is another who I have yet to meet in person (as are all 5 of my recommendations this week), but I have come close. She resides in my favorite city, New Orleans, and during my last trip down there, we tweeted back and forth a couple times, but couldn’t quite meet up. Champ is very good at tweeting about her life in New Orleans and because of this we have engaged in a wide and interesting range of twitter conversations. Oh yeah, and she is a fan of Austin-based rocker, Jon Dee Graham, which is reason enough to follow her.

@julito77 Julio is one of my newest Twitter friends and is quickly becoming one of my favorites. He is another, like @ginidietrich, who successfully mixes business-related tweets with fun, humorous and entertaining tweets. He is a fellow Red Sox fan and also performs comedy improvisation when he’s not running his business or spending quality time with his family. He also likes the movie, High Fidelity, and recently recommended that I read the book. Cool dude.

@foiledcupcakes Another Chicago area Twitter friend. Mari operates a gourmet cupcake company that she markets primarily through Twitter and Facebook. She hasn’t expanded outside of the Chicago area, yet, but I am still working on her. In addition to cupcakes and the cupcake business, we’ve tweeted about music and music tastes. You won’t find this in her bio, but she likes jazz and is quietly trying to become the next jazz life junkie.

@simasays Wow, a third Chicago-based Twitter friend. Sima is another who I’ve almost met in real life (IRL). We first connected when I found out that she was also heading to New Orleans for the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage festival. We were unable to meet up for a couple reasons, but since that time, we’ve continued growing our Twitter friendship around music and wine discussions. She is well connected in the social media scene in Chicago and I find her tweets filled with valuable information.

There you have it. My 5 for Follow Friday. I look forward to one day meeting all 5 of these folks IRL and I hope those who read this take the time to follow each of them. Tune in each week as I have so many more cool tweeple to recommend to you.

Thanks,

Kevin.

written by Kevin Vandever \\ tags: #followfriday, Twitter