HeatherO

There’s an App, I Mean, a List for That! What are Twitter Lists?

HeatherO on 10 29, 2009

Have you heard of the new “Twitter Lists” ?
Say goodbye to #followfriday and hello to lists!

As Robert Scoble (@scobleizer) explains on his posterous blog:

On your home page you’ll see a few changes:

1. You’ll see a new “listed” item. That tells you how many lists you have been added to.
2. You’ll see a new “Lists” area on the right side of your page which shows you which lists you’ve made and which ones you’ve followed (up to a maximum of 20).
3. If you click on a list name, you’ll see the timeline for just that list and you’ll also see “view list page.” If you click on that you’ll see the people that the list is following and who is following the list. You’ll also see you can edit or delete the list there.

( See screenshots here)

As with all things, I’m sure that there will good and bad points to be made. Will it become a popularity contest? Well, yes. Will you worry about putting so and so on the list and making someone else mad? Hmmm…in that regard, I don’t see how it will be that different from followfriday! There is already a lot of “I’d better recommend…” going on!

As with followfriday, thinking about who you recommend will be important to your social capital and reputation. Recommending someone who is a jerk or a spammer is not a good idea!

I agree with Scoble in guessing that the number of followers will become less important, and the lists, and number of lists will become the “popularity barometer”.

I am looking forward to yet another way to meet amazing new people with similar AND different interests! I find that one of the biggest reasons people “don’t get twitter” early on, is that they don’t follow enough people to make it interesting.

Of course the second reason is that they don’t engage enough. It’s like going to the middle school dance and standing in the corner all night and then going home and lamenting that it “sucked”. Well, no kidding! It’s only fun when you get IN the game! Following an enormous list all at once doesn’t work either though, and I do think that will be tempting. If you are willing to spend the time to jump in and get to know these new “would-be friends”, it will be a great thing.

In any case, we will find out soon enough!
In the meantime, there are already lists of the lists!
To get a peek, check out this article on Mashable, or go to Listorious, the new “list directory.”

What do YOU think about this new feature?

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