Did you know that Twitter has had a key feature for over 5 years now that is crucial for managing a content stream populated by large numbers of followed users?
Did you also know that few people know about—let alone use—this feature? So what is this critical feature?
Lists.
The problem with following thousands of people is that your content stream never stops filling up, making it difficult to monitor conversations.
Twitter lists allow you to segment the people you follow into categories, effectively creating multiple, smaller timelines.
For example, I use such lists as editors, writers, social media, and marketing for my @hotpepper account. This helps me keep track of specific streams of content as conversations to respond to and information to share.
Creating a list is pretty easy.
1. Bring up the Twitter profile of someone you want to follow. Click on the gear icon beside the Follow/Following button, and select “Add or remove from lists”.
2. Click on the “Create a list” button at the bottom of the popup window.
3. Type in the new list’s name and description, and click on “Save list”.
4. You’ll be brought back to the list of your lists. The new list will be there, and you can add the person to the new list by checking the checkbox beside the list name. Simple as that.
To access your lists, go to your profile page, click on the More dropdown and select “Lists”.
Once there, you can click on any of your lists to see the mini Twitter feed for that list. They’re perfect for topic-specific tweets and will help you curate content and participate in relevant conversations.
Have you used Twitter lists? What do you think of them?