Lists Are an Awesome New Twitter Feature
Like many of you I’ve been playing around with Twitter Lists over the last few weeks. This new feature has captured my imagination on many levels. While I certainly haven’t figured out all the ways to use Lists, I thought I’d share what I’ve been doing – maybe it will spark ideas for you. And I’d love to hear what you think of Twitter Lists and how you’ve been using them.
Lists allow me to selectively organize people I follow… Every time I follow someone, I try to assign them to one or more of my Lists. I wish I’d been able to do that from day one. I’m trying to go back and list folks I’m already following, and if you can think of an efficient way to do that, please share.
… Allowing me to focus better on what people are saying. When I have extra time I peruse one of my Lists – for example my Writers List – and go in depth on what’s happening in that area of interest.
I’m trying Lists as a way to step up Follow Friday. Last week I tweeted my Lists – for example, my SEO List – to share more of my favorite follows. Good idea?
Lists help me decide who to follow. When I look at a person or organization’s profile page and see that they are on a few or several Lists, that’s a very positive sign. It tells me this person is involved in Twitter, not just taking up space or spamming. Presumably people wouldn’t put you on a List unless you were contributing useful and/or entertaining content. As an example, take a look at the profile page of Meryl K. Evans – impressed?
Lists help me find great new follows. When I peruse a List put together by someone I respect – for instance, Meryl K. Evans’ Marketing List – that leads me to people I want to connect with.
Lists pressure me to write better Tweets. I’m on a few Lists myself, and for me that’s a real honor. If someone thinks enough of me to more carefully track and generously share what I’m writing, well, that inspires me to write more informatively and thoughtfully.
Inclusive Twitter Lists or Exclusive Twitter Lists?
Jan Geronimo wrote a fascinating post about selectivity on Twitter Lists. Should your Lists include everybody you know in a given category, or just the cream of the crop? For me, the issue is not as pressing, since I’m fairly selective about people I follow to begin with. So my thinking at the moment is, make my Lists inclusive and let others judge for themselves who the “best” are.
Future Development of Twitter Lists?
- It would be great to see Twitter Lists integrate with HootsSuite, my favorite Twitter interface. Kim Fenolio reports that TweetDeck is working on an interface already.
- How about an email notification when someone adds you to their Twitter List?
Over to You
What new features would you like to see on Twitter Lists? How have you been using them so far?
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Chicago based SEO copywriting, blog consulting, and content strategy consulting.
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Great stuff Brad and very useful. I’ve been included on over 50 lists (much to my surprise!) and I agree, it does make you think before you tweet a little more. I need to put some time into organising my own lists, so it’s great to hear what other writer types are doing with them. Cheers, Iain.
Brad, I like your ideas. I started my Twitter lists but have not completed them. The one feature I’d love is an easier way to add people. I would love to categorize a large number of my followers. I am assuming that Twitter viewed the list feature as more intimate, so not an issue to add followers one by one. Tweetvisor has nice support for the lists feature. I was primarily using Hootsuite but am now favoring Tweetvisor for the interface, integration of features and ease of use.
Karen, I’m intrigued by the Tweetvisor tip – checking it out soon. It has taken me quite awhile to categorize my followers, too much time to do a thorough job of it. And I “only” have about 3500 to classify. Daunting task, so there must be demand to simplify the process.
Iain, Not surprised you are on so many Lists. No doubt we’ll continue finding new ways to use them within the writing community.
To make it a bit easier for me I’ve pruned my following and follower list first. Got rid of tweeters whose last tweets were four months ago. Got rid of people who never followed back, except for several notable exceptions… You’re so right – I also wish we had this much earlier so the matter of curating our lists will much simpler.
Lists are great in that I only have to check other peoples list that appeal to my interest. I don’t subscribe to the list per se but I add people in that list. In that sense, it has made seeking people with the same interests a lot easier.
Jan, “List Curator” is a fabulous description. Do you think one day soon larger firms will have a “Social Media Curator” position in their marketing department? Sounds a little farfetched, but maybe not.
Hi Brad, I just noticed the feature show up sometime last week. I like the way you’re using them. Certainly helps navigate the twitterverse a bit.
Hi Brad, thanks for sharing this.. have to confess to being mystified by twitter lists at the moment… it just seems like extra work and I can’t figure out the benefits. But maybe I’m just being a luddite….
PS Thought you were having a blogging break this week?
Hi Fred, Will be interested to see what you do with Lists – you are so very creative.
Joanna, My break is next week, when I travel to Phoenix.
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Interesting post, Kyle. I agree that Twitter lists are a little too green to make a complete judgment one way or the other (my blog post to the contrary is in fact a joke).
I’m not sure how I feel about them, but as of right now I don’t see much value. It will be interesting to see what else the folks on Bryant St. come up with.
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I wonder if you could even call Twitter lists a legitimate addition to the site. Are they really creating value for users? What makes them different (and more importantly better) than the organizational features that programs like Tweetdeck offer? I agree with Phillip, I can’t see much value in them at this point in time either. Heck, most heavy twitter users don’t even use the actual website!
Perhaps if Twitter evolved their lists into more of a premium directory service, which people paid to gain access to and be included in, things would be a little more interesting.
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@alba lists help you organize the people you follow, n’stuff – RT @TurnerInk How to use twitter lists – http://ow.ly/AGpp
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