I’m a big fan of Follow Friday (#ff on Twitter) as it helps to connect you with folks that are hand-picked by others in your network. The only thing I hate about it, is that it can be easy to lose.

With that, I’m starting a series of blog posts that have a bit more permanence to make sure that you don’t miss some of the folks I think are awesome. Most will probably only have a one sentence description, but we are used to 140 characters or less anyway.

This episode is going to cover a few friends that may be flying under your radar, but are definitely leading thinkers and all-around great people.

@cord – Cord is a super nice guy with great thoughts on marketing and social media topics.

@emilyhaughey – Emily is an extremely smart and funny young professional working hard to infuse social media into the construction industry.

@gwynnemurphy – Gwynne is a bright marketer with incredible writing skills… this amongst other things led her to be a coworker and a valuable part of the marketing team @bandwidth & @phonebooth.

@jaydolan – Jay is the creative genius behind @TheAntiMedia, a site which mocks plenty of social media users and trends while providing tons of insight that I usually laugh at (and agree with).

@qthrul – Jay Cuthrell manages to stay under the radar in many circles… and I’m not sure how. He’s a really cool dude with great thoughts on social media, technology and telecom. Useful Tip: Jay’s last name is pronounced like his Twitter username… Q… Thrul.

@summerjoy – Summer is more passionate about social media than anyone I know… she’s also smart and funny.