The Next Web

How Twitter Lists Work

How Twitter Lists WorkNote: you will only see these features if your account has been given access to Twitter Lists. If not, then sit tight and keep reading to find out how it works.

Twitter has just released their biggest feature update yet with Twitter lists, see our intro here.

This is quick guide explaining how to create them, how they work and the end result.

Click “create new list” in the new section on the right sidebar. Name it and choose whether you’d like the list to be private or public. You can then visit your following page and from there, alongside each username you’ll notice a drop down menu allowing you to add that person to a particular list.

Frustratingly there doesn’t seem to be a quick way to add a bunch of people to one list, so you’re going to be spending a great deal of time finding each person, clicking that menu option and adding them to a list. You can also do this from the individual’s profile page.

Once you’ve created a list, assuming you’ve made it public, you’ll be able to share the URL with whomever you please. We’ve created an example using The Next Web team which you can find here. With one click you can  follow the entire list.

Picture 12

On the right sidebar it shows the the number of followers that particular list has received and the number of people the list has followed (these are the number of people included in that list). You’ll also see other lists that twitter user has made and an option to block the Twitter user entirely.

In your Twitter homepage’s right sidebar, you’ll see lists that you’ve created along with a “view all” option. Clicking that will reveal two tabs “lists following you” and “lists you follow”. Lists following you shows you the number of lists you are on, while “lists you follow” is obviously the number of lists you have followed.

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That’s about all there is to it folks!


  • Updated – pls let me know if i’ve missed anything. Merci.


    This comment was originally posted on FriendFeed

  • @mandamme
    Could it be that you can only add people who follow you back when you create a list?
  • elaineElle
    You don't have to follow someone in order to add him/her to one of your lists, nor you have to follow someone included in someone else's list to see him/her in the list. That's why the nb of accounts in a list does not add to your total following count.

    You can add an lock account in a list, but if you don't follow the account, you won't be able to see the tweets in the list.
  • This sounds like a great addition. Thank you for letting us know about it. I have been wondering how to better keep up with particular people on Twitter.
  • The lists you follow and lists following you is kinda confusing (non-obvious message conveyance at first glance; requires several lines of thought, time and brain cycles to comprehend or follow its meaning). It would be easier if it displays like this:
    # of People you follow
    # of people following you
    # of lists you are member of

    You wouldnt 'follow' a list, you would be a member of a distribution list. Like a broadcast blast. I think the concept of lists as used in this implementation confuses me.
  • Being a newbie and not techy at all, I've just taken a look and I can't find the gadget to make a list. Can you be more specific as to where it is and it may be an idea to produce a DIY manual for idiots?

    Incidentally, when I find the gadget, I think it will be great!
  • This has been on my Twitter “wishlist” for ages. Let’s hope that 3rd-party Twitter clients and other applications are quick to support the new feature!

    I posted this Tweet only a little while back:
    Whinge: Will Twitter ever allow us to group/list/organise/tag our "followers" in a way that is portable across applications/clients?
  • Yeah I have it and its pretty lame

    havent figured out why I would want to use it

    Id rather keep my "lists" in a CRM than another SM site

    I would think that an interface from Twitter to a few CRM providers would be much more benefical
  • I dunno Zee.
    I think this is going to further alienate the cooler folks from the nerds.
    Twits will feel further pressure in the Twitter-sphere to be accepted.
    When I know there can only be so many on Top.
    It will enable better focus and that's a good thing.
    But the whole social strata dynamic is most unsettling!

    Twitter on... Dude!
  • Zee,

    You made a grammar mistake in this post! In the note, you write "you will only see these features if you’re account" whereas it should be "...your account."

    Cheers,

    ~Eugene
  • Sounds like a useful feature, I hope clients will switch to this 'official version' of groups soon. Right now, I have to create groups in each separate client I use.
  • Liz
    I've had to click on a list name 2, 3, 5, 9, 12 times before a checkmark appeared that showed a user had been added so the process of making these lists has been more time-consuming than I initially thought.

    I hope that Twitter fixes that bug before they release it system-wide.

    I think it's really fascinating to see the way people have set up their lists, who've they've added, what they've named their lists. I think that a lot of these public lists will eventually go private once everyone can see who's on it and who's not.
  • As Liz says, it seems to take a couple tries at times to get the checkmark to appear when adding someone to a list - but I figure that might be attributable to a sudden great load on the servers in the mad rush to make lists - no doubt one of the reasons for the gradual roll-out?

    I realized just a few minutes ago that more than half of the lists that I've created are set to "private" rather than "public" - and I suspect that it's in the private lists that the most interesting applications of this feature may be happening, socially speaking. Darned useful for making to-do lists around groups of users and clustering people on project teams!

    My biggest concern about the lists feature is that it will almost certainly ramp up the competitiveness and numbers obsessions we already see with the follower counts; it will almost certainly give spammers and phishers a more effective way to target user groups; and there are bound to be a lot of hurt feelings and broken friendships because of who is and is not included on a list...

    On balance, however, I'm delighted to see this feature introduced to Twitter.
  • Some people are following lists as a method of spamming (drawing attention to their SPAM accts on Twitter).

    Blocking them doesn't stop them from following lists.

    Making one of my lists private again got rid of one spammer (he was the only follower), but I can't do that on lists where there are multiple followers (and only one spammer).

    I hope Twitter figures out a way around this problem or I'll have to make some lists private. I created the lists with the intention of sharing potentially useful/valuable information with the community.

    Maybe they could add an "approve this list follower" option if it's going to be this difficult to get rid of SPAM list followers.
  • Just to clarify what I wrote in my previous post about dealing with SPAM list followers: if you have a public list and you make it private and then public again, anyone following that list is removed as a follower.

    Again, it's only a solution if everyone following a particular list is a spammer.
  • Great post. Can't wait to be enabled for this (I'm not good at waiting ;).

    I couldn't see your team list, maybe because the feature is not enabled for my account.
  • My biggest concern about the lists feature is that it will almost certainly ramp up the competitiveness and numbers obsessions we already see with the follower counts; it will almost certainly give spammers and phishers a more effective way to target user groups; and there are bound to be a lot of hurt feelings and broken friendships because of who is and is not included on a list…
  • I think the list option is ridiculous, and pointless for followers to use. However, it is a good method for the user themselves. Having a following list of 8,000+ people, I don't follow many cause I want to be able to see certain updates. Well now I can list and categorize people and click on that list to see that timeline. Really lists should be targeted towards users, not followers of a user.

    Something else I'd like to see for FOLLOWERS of a user are TABS. When you go to a users homepage, you see a TIMELINE TAB, an @ REPLY TAB and a FAVORITES TAB.

    That way I feel okay @ replying my 8,000 followers without fear that a new follower will come to my page and only see a timeline full of @reply's. They will only see my posts, unless they click on the @reply tab. This is much more follower friendly.
  • Skibum96
    I have tried 3 times to make a list of my fav online magazines and each time it quits and nothing has been added to the list. I now have several lists with similar titles with nothing in any them, moreover I am unable to delete any of the surplus headings! Very frustrating. The idea itself if great but problems galore!!!!
  • Hmmm I have no idea what these lists are for, and I'm a part of 8 of them somehow. Sounds good! :)

    @FinancialSamura
  • tweetfan
    The LIST are WONDERFUL, lol. They are better than follow friday and all that messy tweeting... my growth rate was really high since i started using them. U can find good ones at Listorious.com in different categories or you can follow mine which is in the top 170 lists thus far at http://twitter.com/elucidmarketing/socialnetwor... Once u start to follow the list we put you on the list to network with ones already listed. Thanks and great post here, see u again, Elucid !!!!
  • I knew you could only create 20 lists, but I didn't realize that you could also only follow twenty lists (in addition to those you created yourself). I was a bit disappointed after following a bunch of lists only to find out later that I was merely replacing the lists I first started following with other lists. A warning or something that I was exceeding my limit would have been nice. So I ended up losing the original lists which were important to me and I wasted a lot of time following lists that were of secondary importance to me. Also... It would be nice if each list page could have a description of the list in addition to the simple title.
  • Actually Lists are beneficial because people can organize the people they follow into categories. For example- I have people who give articles on social media, so they go in my "media" list and people who give great empowering quotes- they go on the "awesome" list. not only does this help me organize what tweets I'm reading but people can "follow" my entire list at once. If you're interested in graphic design and you find a person with a graphic design list, you could follow everyone on that topic all at once- saving tons of time.

    Find me on twitter and see what I mean @tyler_lefebvre.
  • You should also check out TwitLi.st, user recommended Twitter lists! http://twitli.st
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