5 Reasons For Making a Twitter List

Making a Twitter list may initially seem like a pretty drab affair, however, there are a number of ways that it can help you expand your digital footprint. I’m going to use an example of one I made for my course which is a list of all the people who might be a source of news for the ward of Hackney Downs in London (don’t ask).

1) It widens your horizons

The first benefit is that it forces you to explore your list theme. I already knew and followed some people who Tweeted about Hackney but by setting out to find the 20 most useful ones I looked at and found far more.

2) Gives you a useful resource

Having an existing list allows you to check back with complete ease and see if anything is happening. If I was sporadically checking my Twitter feed I might miss some key Hackney Downs news among all the non-Hackney Downs related content. Having a place which is just focused on your given field is extremely useful.

3) Makes you look like you know what you’re doing

Going back to my previous post about curation, people like it when you can save them time. A twitter list is the perfect time saver for the reasons explained in point 2. If your fellow tweeters find your list useful then they will be more likely to pay attention to what you do in the future. A nice reputation boost.

4) Makes other people feel good

If you noticed that you got added to a list then wouldn’t you feel kind of special? Flattery is a good way to get ahead and by designating somebody as an expert in a chosen field you are hopefully going to entice them to return the favour in some way. Admittedly, this is less than guaranteed.

5) Widens your sources

My list initially only contained 20 tweeters but I have since expanded it to 29 because I have subsequently discovered a lot more relevant accounts. For example, I didn’t discover the very interesting Hackney Live until I updated my list. By following a group of people Twitter will helpfully recommend similar accounts and allow you to expand and refine your list, thus bringing us full circle back to point number 1.

To make a Twitter list go to ‘Me’, ‘Lists’ and then ‘Create List’ from your Twitter dashboard. To add people to or remove people from it, go to their account, click the drop down menu next to the follow button and the ‘Add or remove from list…’.