4 Great Ways to Use the New Twitter Lists
New Twitter List Example (@NealSchaffer)
Twitter is slowly rolling out their promised Twitter lists to all of their users now. Apparently, a great number of users just started receiving access to this new functionality yesterday. If you now have access to it, you will notice it when you log into Twitter by the prominent text bar above your timeline with the red “New!” line. Although Twitter has slowly been rolling out changes like the Twitter one-click spammer reporting or small changes in the user interface of deleting Direct Messages (it now says “Reply” or “Delete” instead of just an icon) or replying to tweets (it now says “Reply” instead of just an icon), this is the first new major functionality that has been added to Twitter in some time. And it is a new functionality that you should be leveraging.
Four Great Ways of Using the New Twitter Lists
1) Organize Your Timeline
This is the most obvious use for the new Twitter List and the reason why it was created. As you start following many people, you need a way to filter out users and make better use of the information. Up until now, you had to install a separate Twitter application like Tweetdeck (or use the web service HootSuite) in order to create a group of people that you wanted to filter out of the main timeline. Twitter Lists give you one more reason to use Twitter.com as your main Twitter interface (that is, if you don’t have multiple accounts…). I haven’t seen a limitation as to how many lists you can create, and you can name them however you like. There is an option to make your list either private or public when you create it, so if you make it public and it becomes public domain and thus seen by everyone and can even be followed by everyone, you may want to be careful as to how you name them. Also, the people that you include on your list can find this information out, which is another good reason to name your list in a way that would flatter someone who is on it. Note that the lists can only be created of users and not keywords, so this may not be enough to get everyone to switch from Tweetdeck or HootSuite…Twitter, are you listening?
2) Find Great Tweeters to Follow
By looking at the Lists of those people that you respect, you can get a good idea of who they follow which may give you some good people to follow yourself. Sure, up until now you could go to Chris Brogan‘s timeline and see who he communicates with and follows, but it would take you a long time to decipher that information to figure out who you should follow. Unfortunately, when I checked today, Chris hadn’t created any lists ;-( (I understand, Chris, because I haven’t had time to create extensive lists either!) But for instance you could go to another social media thought leader like Jeremiah Owyang and get some ideas by looking at the lists he’s created. As more and more people create lists, it will be fun to see who they recommend you follow. It is a mass improvement and a democratization of the Twitter Suggested Users List and even the Tweetdeck.com Directory, both of which I was never satisfied with (although the Tweetdeck does categorize tweeters by subject the selection process is unclear and questionable). Indeed, some can say that is the birth of Twitter 2.0 by allowing the users to catalog users to help other users find relevant people to follow.
3) Get Tweeters to Follow You
Just as you may @Reply or follow someone new in hopes that they may notice you or follow you back, putting someone on one of your Twitter Lists is a sign of deep respect that just may get you noticed. It can be used as a similar strategy, but don’t think Oprah will follow you just because you placed her on one of your Twitter lists 
Which leads me to perhaps the most importan way of using Twitter Lists…
4) Brand Your Twitter Presence
Just as who you follow and what you tweet is part of your Personal Branding on Twitter, so is what types of lists you have and who is on your lists. If you want to be considered a subject matter expert in your field to elevate your Twitter Brand, being the person that has created the best, most comprehensive lists for your subject matter will surely add to your Twitter Brand and further show that you are an expert. The lists should be relevant to your brand, but it is another important way to help differentiate yourself from the other tweeple out there.
[Although not part of the original blog post, one of my Twitter followers Tom Voute had a 5th suggestion: use the Twitter List to "mirror" someone. Have you ever wondered what the Twitter timeline someone else sees looks like? You can make a Twitter List and add all of the people that that person follows on the list. In doing so, you can mirror their timeline! Definitely a creative and unique way of using Twitter lists, so thank you Tom for the input!]
[Another addition to the blog post prompted by another reader. It isn't easy to figure out how to edit the lists once they are created. One of the commenters to this post, Racer 48, asked how to add a new person to an existing list. I thought that this should be possible, and I knew I had done it before, but I couldn't find any way to do this by looking at the options on my own profile page. Another commenter, Sue, quickly pointed out that it can be easily done, but the catch is that you have to go to the profile of the person that you want to add or delete from one of your lists. Thank you Sue! Would be nice if this functionality was also added to your own Profile page...especially if you want to delete several people at once, it would make it much easier to do this from one page.]
Since Twitter Lists are new, the etiquette of whether or not you thank someone if they add you to the list has yet to be determined. I suppose it is similar to a ReTweet or a #FollowFriday, but then again people could add you to a list just so that you notice them or follow you back as I suggested in 3) above. Will you thank the people that add you to their Twitter List?
Finally, perhaps a year from now, the number of lists that you are on may say something greater than the number of followers you have as it is a sign of true respect. I can see people using multiple accounts and making multiple lists of themselves to try to show off the numbers of lists that they are on. And with this, I see the potential for Twitter limiting how many lists each account can create if people start using it in ways it wasn’t intended for.
Bottom line: Create, leverage and enjoy the Twitter Lists while you have them!
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Neal Schaffer is recognized as a leader in helping businesses and professionals embrace and strategically leverage the potential of social media. An award-winning published author, frequent speaker at social media events, and an avid blogger, Neal is President of 
Comments
Hi Neal:
I believe Twitter list is a tool for classification. Twitter site is too rudimentary for now a day networking so we have to use a client application. Most clients have a feature to classify by means of groups or lists.
Best regards.
Neal,
Don't know if you've seen this yet, but there is a 3rd party tool to explore lists that have already been created. It's called Listorious and have lists segmented by person and by categories. It's an interesting addition to what you already have in your post. It can be found simply at listorious.com
Phil Lauterjung
Nice one. Your articles are always informative. Every time their is something new to learn.
Well, Twitter.com is my main platform because I hate to run lots of applications on my computer. It does make it difficult to, for instance, ReTweet or create a group by keyword, but for everyday Tweeting from a single account for personal use, Twitter.com for me is sufficient.
That being said, if you have multiple accounts and/or you are a business doing constant monitoring, then, yes, Twitter is “rudimentary”. In my opinion, however, everyday users of Twitter shouldn't have to use 3rd party applications for everyday Tweeting. It just doesn't make sense! That's why I applaud this move and hopes that Twitter adds more “basic” functionality to its platform while at the same time continuing to expose its APIs so that 3rd parties can develop more advanced applications.
Phil,
You learn something new every day, especially with Twitter! Thanks for that. I also read about it in the same day in this great article by Mashable that shows that more exciting Twitter List applications are on the way!
http://mashable.com/2009/10/30/twitter-lists-api/
Thanks again for your valuable contribution!
- Neal
Thank you Harshal. My motto is, “If you don't have value to add, don't write.” Glad you found value in my post. Looking forward to your future comments and contributions!
I think this will be a worthwhile application but I thin I was asleep when it was launched. I can not seem to fine anywhere as to how to really use this app. I am sure there must be something out there on it. I tried to start one list but can not seem to be able to add additional people to the list. Any hints?
Great information, from reading this you can certainly gather that tweeting is a very serious time consuming goal – if you are serious about taking a business route – combine a bit of both & it's also rewarding fun.
Regards,
Justin
I have not found any resources to show you how to add people to your list, but it should be self-explanatory by looking at the Twitter.com user interface. At least that's what I thought until I tried to add people to an existing list and I couldn't do it either! I also noticed (which I didn't before) that you could make the lists private, so I will need to edit the blog post. Thanks for bringing this up as I was hoping to add people to the list as I go along, and the inability to do this is a serious lack of functionality!
Thanks for the comment Justin. Tweeting can be as time consuming of an activity as you want it to be. But once you start Tweeting, you get into a habit of doing it daily, much like reading your emails. However, you need to have and never forget your objective for being on Twitter in the first place; otherwise, you could be wasting a LOT of time!
It's easy to add or delete someone from one of your lists. Click on their twitter page, hit the “lists” button (to the right of the page opposite the “follow/following” indicator) tick the box next to the list you want to add or delete them from or create a new list. You don't have to be following someone to add them to your list either, I have found.
Thank you for that Sue…I thought it could be done but when tried to myself couldn't figure out how to do it again
Indeed, it is inconvenient in that you have to do at each person's profile page instead of being able to manage them through your profile. But it works! Thanks and you will be duly noted in the blog post!
Glad to be of assistance. Yes it's inconvenient and not immediately obvious, hopefully it'll change soon.
NB- The same option is available if you click on your followers/following lists – this is more convenient as you can quickly go through and “sort” them in one go. Should have mentioned this the first time but had forgotten that's how I used it initially.
[...] the fact that inclusion on a list will add anything to a user as meta-data or perceived relationship by classification? And by taking the control out of the hands of the user on the list does it make this [...]
Thanks for the additional contributions Sue!
I agree…although you do have an option to make them private, it really democratizes the information of who are good tweeple to follow! Brilliant functionality.
Thanks Neal! Ironically you made it to my “Great Links & Articles” List! Keep up the good work!
Thank you Perri! I hope that ironically making it is a good thing!
4 great new ways to use Twitter lists – http://ow.ly/ADaE
way to use the twitter list–> http://bit.ly/1Srm37
Great Post Neal – Ironically I read this AFTER I added you to my “Great Articles & Links” List
Keep in touch.
Thanks Perri
Looking forward to hooking up soon!
4 Great Ways to Use the New Twitter Lists http://bit.ly/3hBqav
[...] 4 Great Ways to Use the New Twitter Lists Twitter is slowly rolling out their promised Twitter lists to… [...]
RT @NealSchaffer: How do YOU use the new Twitter Lists? 4 suggestions of how to use them from my blog. http://budurl.com/neal91 #Twitter
RT @nealschaffer 4 Great Ways to Use the New Twitter Lists | Windmill Networking http://bit.ly/3lqsts
4 Great Ways to Use the New Twitter Lists http://ow.ly/GtNQ #twitter #list
RT @nealschaffer 4 Great Ways to Use the New Twitter Lists | Windmill Networking http://bit.ly/3lqsts
Hey Neal – Thanks for the article… I'm always interested in what you are reviewing and writing about. I have found that TweetDeck serves my needs as an individual rather than the twitter source. I found your article giving me other ideas, though, on how to use the new twitter lists in a way I hadn't considered and cannot use with my TweetDeck lists.
Thanks,
Rebecca Michaels
Twitter ID: RebeccaMichaels
Thanks for the comment Rebecca. I have always been a Twitter.com, not Tweetdeck, user, so the addition is fantastic for people like me. I do look forward to Tweetdeck and HootSuite using the Twitter Lists API to add new and unique functionality that Twitter.com does not have in the near future. Exciting developments indeed!
- Neal
Hey Neal – Thanks for the article… I'm always interested in what you are reviewing and writing about. I have found that TweetDeck serves my needs as an individual rather than the twitter source. I found your article giving me other ideas, though, on how to use the new twitter lists in a way I hadn't considered and cannot use with my TweetDeck lists.
Thanks,
Rebecca Michaels
Twitter ID: RebeccaMichaels
4 great ways to use Twitter lists http://bit.ly/6euXWo
4 Great Ways to Use the New Twitter Lists – http://sdg.me/60101K How else are you using lists?
@ragythomas 4 Great Ways to Use the New Twitter Lists – http://sdg.me/60101K How else are you using lists?
RT @nealschaffer 4 Great Ways to Use the New Twitter Lists | Windmill Networking http://bit.ly/3lqsts
4 great ways to use twitter lists
http://windmillnetworking.com/2009/10/30/4-great-ways-to-use-the-new-twitter-lists/
Thanks for sharing this great info on Twitter lists. I tried to add multiple lists to my Twitter account and found that when you create 20 lists, Twitter does not allow you to create more. The same goes for the number of people on your list – it is limited to 500 per list. Whether or not this will become a problem, I'm not sure, but I've been looking for the best ways to utilize the lists feature.
I totally agree with the fact that the number of times you appear on someone else's list is a sign of respect. Along with monitoring the number of people that I follow, and the number that follow me, I also look at the number of lists I appear on. I monitor that almost daily and if I see the numbers take a drastic drop, that's when I know I need to tweet more and really focus on the content of my tweets.
Thanks for the comment Carol. I wrote that post shortly after Twitter Lists appeared…remember, before Twitter Lists, the only way to filter your tweets was through the Groups features on TweetDeck or HootSuite. But I also felt that Twitter Lists was about something a lot more than just being able to filter out tweets, and thus I wrote that post.
Yes, you are right in that you are restricted to 1) 500 people per Twitter list and 2) 20 Twitter lists per person. We'll just have to make do with what we have!
Thanks again for the comment…and keep in touch!
@NealSchaffer
Thanks for sharing this great info on Twitter lists. I tried to add multiple lists to my Twitter account and found that when you create 20 lists, Twitter does not allow you to create more. The same goes for the number of people on your list – it is limited to 500 per list. Whether or not this will become a problem, I'm not sure, but I've been looking for the best ways to utilize the lists feature.
I totally agree with the fact that the number of times you appear on someone else's list is a sign of respect. Along with monitoring the number of people that I follow, and the number that follow me, I also look at the number of lists I appear on. I monitor that almost daily and if I see the numbers take a drastic drop, that's when I know I need to tweet more and really focus on the content of my tweets.
Thanks for the comment Carol. I wrote that post shortly after Twitter Lists appeared…remember, before Twitter Lists, the only way to filter your tweets was through the Groups features on TweetDeck or HootSuite. But I also felt that Twitter Lists was about something a lot more than just being able to filter out tweets, and thus I wrote that post.
Yes, you are right in that you are restricted to 1) 500 people per Twitter list and 2) 20 Twitter lists per person. We'll just have to make do with what we have!
Thanks again for the comment…and keep in touch!
@NealSchaffer
RT @nealschaffer 4 Great Ways to Use the New Twitter Lists | Windmill Networking http://bit.ly/3lqsts