A Twitter List is a way to curate Twitter accounts based on common interest, field, or group. Twitter lists are a great way to bring similar feeds together for easy following on a particular topic. One of the best features of Twitter lists is that you don’t have to “follow” someone to put them on a list or see their tweets. This is particularly useful if you want to keep up with a competitor without having their tweets appear in your feed.
How to Create a Twitter List
To create a new Twitter List, click the gear icon and select Lists. To add an account to a List, click the gear icon anywhere it shows up on that user’s tweets or page, and select “add or remove from lists.”You will have to decide whether or not to make your list public or private; we’ll get into that more later. The easiest way to decide who to include on your list is first pick your common denominator: what theme, topic, industry, etc. is this list going to be about? For ideas, you can look through lists you’re following or search a hashtag to see who top influencers are for that topic.
Is a Twitter List Like My Feed?
The simple answer is yes, it is similar to your feed with the two major differences being 1. You don’t have to follow someone for them to be on your List and 2. Tweets coming through your Lists don’t show up on your public feed. This means you can read tweets of people you want to keep tabs on without having their every tweet pass through your public feed. When you turn on the private option for lists, the accounts on your list (and everyone else for that matter) can’t see your list or who’s on it. This is good for keeping up with competitors or if you’re embarrassed that you like watching cat videos (might I recommend this? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8-1F-CokXNU).
Some Examples of Lists to Use
The Competition
As mentioned above, the private list feature is great for keeping track of what your competitors are doing and tweeting.
Daily News
This is especially handy if you like to keep up with a specific field, subject, or industry, such as space exploration or fashion trends. You could also group local news outlets for bite-size snippets of events and happenings in your area.
Social Circles
Keep up with your work friends on one list and your relatives on another. Maybe you belong to a book club or church group and want to see what’s happening in those peoples’ lives. Lists can be a great way to group important people together so you don’t miss their tweets.
Events
Lists are also great for events like New York Fashion week or a large conference. You can keep up with tweets from speakers, bloggers, brands, and anyone else involved. If you’re attending a conference, lists can be a great networking tool. It’s an easy way to engage with other professionals in your field and build your reputation.
Still not sure where to start? Try looking at lists that people you trust are following. Trying to connect with other professionals? Find an expert in your field and see what lists he or she belongs to or follows. Also, don’t forget to see what lists you’ve been added to, there’s bound to be like-minded people on the same list with whom you can connect. Happy listing!