Twitter's New "Lists" Feature Connects People, Excites Marketers

If you're on Twitter, you've probably noticed the new feature: Twitter Lists. It's hard not to, what with the giant banner at the top of your Twitterstream announcing "A great way to organize the people you follow and discover new and interesting accounts." Even if you use a third-party application or a mobile device to access Twitter and haven't seen the banner, it's likely that you've noticed the "listed" link right next to "following" and "followers."

What's All This, Then, and Who Needs It Anyway?

Twitter Lists are a new functionality allowing Twitter users to sort conversations by grouping users with a common trait. This is especially useful for those who are following thousands of people and can't keep track of their Twitterstream long enough to socialize authentically. It's also a big boon to marketers using Twitter, who can make or find lists of people who mention a product or share an interest.

New users especially will benefit from the lists feature, since lists act as a personal recommendation of a group of up to 500 Twitterers. A newbie who knows a few Tweeple from the offline world can review lists her friends have made in order to find trustworthy and interesting individuals and follow them. Lists are like a great, big Follow Friday that never ends.

How Lists Work

To create a list, just click "New List" below "Lists" in the sidebar to the right of your Twitterstream. A popup will prompt you to name your list and make it either public or private.

Next, you'll need to add some people to your list. Twitter will show you a search screen where you can search for users by name, username or keyword. You can also head straight to your "following" page and add people to lists. To add a person, click the rectangular box to the right of his or her name. A dropdown menu will appear allowing you to click checkboxes in order to add the user to one or more lists.

To follow someone else's list, click "follow this list" above the Twitterstream on the list's page. This will make the list show up on your right-hand sidebar, but you will not automatically follow all list members in your main Twitterstream. If you want to personally follow everyone on a list, you've got to do it by hand. One can only hope that this will deter Tweeters from blindly following others without at least glancing at their profiles.

Hey, Look, I'm on a List!

Your "listed" page (found next to "following" and "followers") will show you which lists include you, how many people each list follows and how many people follow each list. If you're happy about being on someone else's list, drop them a DM or @reply to thank them and/or Tweet about the list to share it with others.

Ack, Someone Put Me on a "People with Contagious Flesh-Eating Diseases" List!

If you don't want to be on someone else's list, you can remove yourself, but you have to block the other person to do so. Go to his or her Twitter page and click "block." This (after one nag screen to make sure you really mean it) will remove you from that person's following list, remove them from yours and prevent them from following you in the future. It'll also take you off any lists he or she has made.

What's In It For Me?

Since lists were launched on October 30th, some top Tweeters have been asking, "Where's the return on my time investment if I make a list?" Top-ranking lists on Listorious have only a couple thousand followers. Compare that to the tens of thousands of people active Twitterers are already reaching. You can't Tweet @ a list en masse (and thank the Twitter Gods for that, since mass @replies would empower spammers on Twitter) or even search within Twitter for lists using a keyword.

Realistically, the benefits of making a list for the list-maker are negligible, especially if he or she already has made lists using Tweetdeck or another third-party application. You're not likely to gain extra followers through list-making, since the people who see your list will primarily be people who are following you already.

However, being on a list made by a popular Tweeter might be beneficial for users who've had less exposure. Also, as I mentioned above, lists can help people new to Twitter find their way around. Creating a list is, at this point, more of a service to the Twitter community and a compliment to your friends than an exercise in self-promotion.

List Ethics

Certain social norms have already sprung up around the new lists feature on Twitter. I'll close this post with some listing dos and don'ts:

Do:

-Make lists for your convenience, so that you can check up on what locals are saying about the weather, what fans of your sports team have to say after a game, conversations between members of your church, etc.
-Thank others when they add you to a list, either directly or by Tweeting to share the list.
-Make sure you're correctly categorizing people in your lists. Don't list your Republican congressman on your "Dems_in_2010" list!
-Enjoy and follow interesting lists made by others.
-Individually follow list members who interest you.
-Submit worthwhile lists to Listorious.
-Follow my AC-Writers list. OK, this one's not mandatory, but it's a good idea! If you aren't on the list and want to be, send me an @reply or DM.
-Have fun!

Don't:

-Make malicious lists, like "PeopleIHate" or "CompleteIdiots." If you don't like someone, just block them, don't bother with a list.
-Look for third-party tools to mass-follow lists. That's spammy. If you can't take the time to follow someone manually, you probably don't really intend to build a relationship with that person.
-Use lists to sell a product or try to build traffic though lists. Making a list of people who you feel should buy your product will probably take more time and yield fewer sales than improving your product, holding a Twitter contest, building genuine relationships through social media...

So, how do you like the list feature? Have you made a list yet? Leave a comment and let me know!