The How, What And Why’s Of Twitter Lists

In November of 2009 Twitter rolled out one of its newest features to the general public…Lists. Since the initial launch Lists have seem to be mostly forgotten. In case you are new to Twitter or unaware of what Lists are, they are nothing more than a self managed group of individuals focused around a central topic and placed into an appropriately name List.

In order to understand how Lists could be beneficial for your use we should first look at we go about creating lists from within the Twitter website.

1. Login to your twitter account
2. On the right hand side of the Twitter site below the search you will see your lists. Click on “New list” to create a new list.
   
3. After clicking on new list you will be presented with the following screen.
   
   Enter a name for your list (something related to the users you will be adding to it) a description of what this list is about, the access level whether private or public and finally click create list.
4. To add users to your newly created list go the profile page of another Twitter user who you would like to add to the list. Click on the “Lists” button and you will see this:
   
   Select the list you would like this user to be on and they will automatically be added to the list.
   ** You do not have to follow a user to add them to a List.
5. Repeat step 4 for each additional Twitter user you would like to add to your list.

Now that you know how to create your own Twitter lists let’s take a look at a five reasons to use lists and five types of lists you could create.

Reason To Use Lists

1. Tracking The Competition – If you are in an industry where many of your competitors are on Twitter you can create a new, private list (remember the choice given when creating a List from step 3) that only you will be able to see and access and because you can add them to a List without following them your competition won’t know you are tracking what they do.
2. Easy One Click Following – If you search the Twitter List directory Listorious you will be able to find a list in a niche that interests you created by someone you may or may not follow. After finding a list you want to follow you can then click on the Follow button and you will be subscribed and will be following that list of users without having to go to each one of them and clicking follow.
3. Trust – If you are unsure if you should be following a particular person because of spam or other concerns check there Twitter profile and look for the “Listed” below their profile name. Chances are if they are Listed on several different lists you can trust them.
4. Gaining More Followers – As you gain in popularity you will eventually be added to Lists yourself and as these Lists become followed you may gain followers from users who decide to follow the individuals who are on the Lists they themselves are currently following.
5. Easier To Unsubscribe Than To Unfollow – If you use lists to track and monitor a niche or an event the use of Lists make it is very easy to unsubscribe from the list once you are done tracking the niche or when the event is over by simply going back to the list and clicking unfollow. If you weren’t using lists and had went to each profile and followed them manually you will now have to go into your followers list and unfollow each user you had previously added to remove them. This of course could take quite a long time depending on how many users you had followed for that particular event or niche. Lists can save you time.

Types Of Lists

1. Location Related Lists – You can create a list of users from your City/Town/Province/State etc…and can keep up on local news and happenings usually before it hits traditional media outlets.
2. Connect With Fans Of Your Favorite Sports Team – You can create a list of those who are fans of your favorite sports teams. Use search.twitter.com to easily find those who are talking about your team and add those who are fans to your list. I currently run an Edmonton Oilers List where I keep track of fans of my favorite hockey team the Edmonton Oilers.
3. Official Employee List – Create a list of all official employee Twitter accounts and then share and promote this list so others are aware of who is officially communicating from within the company.
4. VIP Lists – If you are attending an upcoming event or are hosting an event create a list that contains the Twitter names of all those who will be in attendance. Share this list with all those that will be in attendance as it will help put a face to the tweet.
5. Peers And Experts – Create a list of peers and experts in your industry. Share this list with those in your industry to make it easier for everyone to find peers without having to go through the process of creating their own list.

Of course there are far more than five ways to use Twitter lists but hopefully these five give you a place to start.

Please leave a comment below letting me know how you are using Twitter lists and if you find this at all useful; consider clicking the Facebook icon to share it on Facebook with your friends or click the Retweet button to share it on Twitter with your followers.