Tag Archives: tweets

Twitter has now come out with a new feature called Twitter Lists. It’s function is to create lists of folks (Tweeps) whom you follow on Twitter, by basically filing them into categories. You can create any category you want and even file your Tweeps into more than one category. It’s a great way to help you organize your follows, but also to allow others to follow your entire lists too.

The concept of filing people into categories is actually something that comes very natural to me. You see, my Rolodex at home is not filed strictly alphabetically. I file according to how I know people. Art folks here, home town folks there, parents of my kids’ friends in this spot, work contacts in that spot and distant relatives I barely know – over there. Drives my husband crazy, but I’m just not good at remembering every name I come in contact with, without a frame of reference as to how I know them. So the Twitter List concept works well for me.

For instance, I have several Twitter List categories including: Crochet/Ravelry folks, Austin folks, Crafting Resources, Fellow Artisans and even a category for Brightens My Day. Some of the Tweeps I know fall into more than one category, like Artisans who are also in the Austin area. So I put them in both.

Now, so what’s the advantage to all this “Twitter List stuff?”

Well for one, you can make your lists public so others can follow them. If someone else has a list for Crafting Resources, and I think it’s a good list, I can decide to follow their entire list, making it much less work for me to find all that great info! Which also means the folks in those lists automatically get more follows and coverage than they would have if they weren’t “Twitter Listed.”

Secondly, I can look at the updates from all my follows according to those categories I’ve set. So when I want to laugh, I click on my Humor list and see all the folks I put in that list all in one spot – without all the rest! When I want to see what’s up in Austin, I click on my Austin list and it’s nothing but Austin baby! This makes keeping up with the wide variety of folks and interests I’ve tapped in to via Twitter much easier!

Thirdly, anytime someone hits my Twitter Profile page @AberrantCrochet, They will also see how many lists I’ve been added to and in what categories. I think this gives me more exposure as well. Sure, I tweet about crochet, but I also tweet about other interests. And you’ll get to see where others file me in their Twitter Lists as well.

So how do you go about using these lists then?

If you go to your Twitter account, you’ll likely notice that there is a new box at the top of your screen that says:

“New! Lists. A great way to organize the people you follow and
discover new and interesting accounts. (BETA)

Lists are timelines you build yourself, consisting of friends, family, co-workers, you name it.”

You want to click on an icon that looks kinda like this:

Create a new list

 

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This is where you will create your initial List name, or category, to “file” your Tweeps into. Here you will also choose to either make the list public (so others can see and even follow it too) or private (no one will see it).

After this step, you will see a page that says: “Find people to add to your list – Search for a username, first or last name, business or brand.” You can either choose to search there, or you can click on your “Following” link and find folks you already follow there.

You will notice, next to each name in your following list, and on each Twitter profile you look at, that there is a new icon for Twitter Lists. When you click that icon, it will bring up a window of all the Twitter List categories you have created, as well as an option at the bottom of that pop-up that allows you to make a new list category.

Mark any Twitter List category that you wish to file your Tweep into. This could be one, or all of your categories. For instance, I have folks who are filed into the Austin as well as Crochet categories for my lists.

You can also add yourself to your lists! Which is great, so when folks follow one of your lists, they’ll follow you to. You took the time to create the list – you ought to benefit from it too! To add yourself to your list, go to your Twitter Profile link, and click on the list icon there. Check mark any categories you want to be included in.

And that’s pretty much it!

Unless you choose to keep them private, your Twitter Lists will show up on your profile page for others to see and check out. As they click on each one, they will be able to see the Twitter news feed for each category and may decide, if they enjoy it, to follow the entire list!

The new Twitter Lists is a useful tool to not only keep track of all the lovely Tweeps out there you want to hear from, but also it’s a great way to further your networking on Twitter!

I hope you found this basic Twitter List tutorial helpful! If you liked this article, please reTweet or link it to help others and if you have anything to add, please feel free to share in the comments below.