We’ve been awaiting (or dreading) their arrival, and now they are finally here.  I’m not talking about the Kardashian babies – no, I’m going to take a little bit of time to discuss the Lists feature on Twitter and how you might want to think about using (and when not to use) it.

When I received my offer I stared at the screen, wondering how to proceed, while my fiancée stared at me warily from across the table.  I hadn’t put any time into thinking about how I should sort my followers, or even if I should.  As my mental clock thunked loudly away, knowing we had to get out the door and buy a few essentials for the house before getting the kids ready for bed, I began with trepidation to type in my first list name….

Everyone now has had a List option for some time now.  It added some basic changes to your Twitter page:

The Listed Link – You will see this on the  upper right-hand corner of your page, just to the right of your followers link.  This was real estate typically utilized by the number of tweets you made, but Twitter has moved that to just under your username.  Clicking on the Listed link will provide you a list of lists you have been added to by other list users.

The Lists Link – This is where all of the very helpful lists you make show up for you.  It’s located on the lower right-hand area of your page, under your Saved Searches feature.

Those lists that you decided to make public will be visible to anyone coming across your Twitter page.  Those that you made private will show up here for you when you are logged in; otherwise they are invisible.  Nobody else will ever be able to see your private lists.

Creating a List

You can make up to 20 Twitter Lists, with up to 500 people on each.  When you create your lists you are given a few options or attributes, each having their individual personal weight (and possible consequences.)  The very first time you make a list will be from that special window that shows up at the top of the screen, which is when you discover you have the feature.  Click on the Create List button to begin…

List Name – What you name a list is important, because its occupants may emotionally slide along the scale from elation to nonchalance to anger based merely on the name.  I know it’s a name that is meaningful to you; just remember that it may not have the same meaning to the individuals whose usernames reside in that list.  The list you just created  and named Silly People might say to you “These are people that I think are funny; they exude a jovial vivacity that I adore.”  The same list might say to one of its occupants “I don’t take these people seriously.  They are Twitter’s equivalent of the class clown.”

Description – You get up to 100 characters to add a short description of why this new list is meaningful to you.  This is a fairly new addition to your Lists feature, so if you  previously made your lists, you might want to go back and add this…

Public vs. Private – This is also important.  Public lists will be displayed on the right-hand side of your profile page, and everyone on it can be seen simply by clicking on the link name.  If you create a Public list and add me to it, the number above my Listed link will go up by one, letting me know that I am on another list.  Like many, I’m likely going to check out who added me, so that I can thank them.  Twitter is all about communication, about sharing what we feel and think, about openness.  So if you added me to a list called People Who Tweet Too Damn Much, I’ll likely get the hint.

Suffice it to say that if you are creating a list called People I Care About More Than the Rest, you might want to make it Private, in order to keep from having to explain yourself to those not on it….  Of course, you will have to be logged in to Twitter, in order to see your personal Private lists.

After you have made your initial set of lists, you can make more by clicking on the little New List link under your set of lists.  Got a lot of lists? You can expand them all by clicking on the View All link next to it.

Following People vice Lists

I believe this part may be a bit confusing to people, so I’m going to cover it.  Here’s how this works…

Following a Person on a List

To see other people’s Public lists, visit their Twitter page and look at the same place your lists are shown, the lower right-side.  Click on any list to expand it and see who belongs to it.  If you like someone on it and want to follow them, simply click on their name, visit their Twitter page, and follow like normal.  That person will be added to your list of follows, and their stream will show up on your page.

Following a List of People

Following a list is a little different, and needs to be grasped mentally.  If you follow a list, that list will show up under your set of lists on the lower right-hand section of your Twitter page.  Your lists all start with your name.  My first list is @_stevewoods/warm-place-in-my-heart and the first list that I follow belongs to Jason Pollock and is called @Jason_Pollock/rising-stars It’s important to understand that in order to see what people in that list are saying, you will have to click on that list to view that particular stream, separately from your normal stream.

Following a List doesn’t mean you’ll always see them…

Another important concept to grasp is that the users on lists you follow will not be automatically added to who you are following!  You have to toggle lists to see their tweets.  If you want to see them all of the time, follow desired people from your chosen lists one by one so they show up in your stream all of the time.  Using this technique, you can simply follow someone’s Twitter list until you’ve sucked it dry of all desired people, then unfollow it.  I know, it sounds like using someone, but it’s not.  You’re getting great follows as provided by someone else, then moving on.  If you feel guilty about it, thank (and follow) the original list-owner for their hard work.  Think of it this way – if you love everyone on one of my lists and I delete the list, you won’t see their stream any longer. Grab ‘em while you can!

Spotting good lists

Desirable lists to follow are those that are comprehensive in nature, and would be difficult (or impossible) for you to assemble due to knowledge or time constraints, and are just plain irresistible.  You’ll find a great resource, Listorious, below under Resources.  They are assembling a great number of these sort of lists, like the TEDsters list, with people who have presented at TED, the Technology, Entertainment and Design forum.

Please note that if you block someone that is on one of your lists, they will also disappear from your list, and your name will disappear from any lists they have with you on it.

Lists And Follow Friday

I’ve read a few comments on Twitter from folks saying “Thank God, with the Lists coming, we won’t have to do Follow Friday anymore!” Although I understand the sentiment involved with getting rid of the endless @ lists on Follow Friday, Twitter Lists don’t effectively replace the personal level of shout-outs that we give each other on those Friday mornings.

Follow Friday shout-outs allow us to tell all of our followers that we think they ought to follow a few others.  It’s a day also to state WHY you should follow them.  Oh, I think the concept of how you should properly do a Follow Friday shout-out has been more than adequately covered.  (Click on the link to the left to read what I had to say about Follow Friday…)

Twitter Lists don’t replace a good Follow Friday because they are passive in nature.  For me to discover the incredible wealth of information that @Zaibatsu provides on a daily basis, I would have to stumble across his name on someone’s list.  Of course, with almost 100,000 followers, there is a pretty good chance I’ll run across his name eventually.  Even if I did come across his name, however, I would have to follow long enough to see his content, in order to decide I like what he says.

Now what about the woman with 257 followers, whose daily tweets reach deep inside of me intellectually or emotionally, but has only tweeted for a few weeks?  Even on a friend’s list of must-follows, odds are against me “discovering” her, unless I spend hours trolling lists.  And sorry, I (and you) just don’t have the time.

Follow Friday works because our friends actively shout out accolades about those whose steady stream of information makes them laugh, cry, think and more.  I scan the most thoughtful #FF’s and then give people a try.  It’s how I meet people who have 100,000 followers, and those with less than 20.

Using a List on Follow Friday

Twitter Lists have their place, and are quite useful in that niche.    Use it to produce a steady stream that fits your current (or desired) mood.  Use it to strengthen the stream of great links to news articles, technology information, fashion advice, religious uplifting, loving fellowship.  Use it to make sure you never lose a dear friend’s tweets amongst your thousands of follows, to aid in maintaining that wonderful relationship.

If you are serious in trying to replace your typical method of Follow Friday with Twitter Lists, then create meaningful lists with less than 20-30 people in each of them. Click on the list to get the address for it, and copy the address.  Send out a meaningful #FF with a link to the list.

Another great method of tying Twitter Lists to Follow Friday is to look at your favorites on your lists and do a #FF that says what list they are on and why.  You can also evaluate who you are going to do #FF shoutouts on, and see if they are on any of your lists.  If not, add them and do a #FF shoutout saying you just listed them and why…

Emerging Twitter List Resources

Even though the Lists feature has only been around a little while, programmers have already begun working hard to bring desirable lists to you.  As I come across them, I’ll put my favorite List Tools here:

Listorious – They call themselves the Directory of Awesome Lists.  Here you can find lists based on popular tags, look up lists from a particular user or by keyword, and follow them with a single click.  You’ll have to provide protected access to your Twitter Account to get full use of it.

Listiti – They will send you an alert whenever someone on a given list tweets something you are interested in.

Conversation List – If you allow it access to your Twitter account, it will dynamically create a list for you based on who you tend to converse with.

TweetML - FOLLOW EVERYBODY ON A LIST! TweetML has always provided a great interface to follow groups of users.  Rather than follow someone’s Twitter list, simply type in the address for it in the box labelled Follow a Twitter List and press the Follow button. A list of users will show up and you can follow them all by typing in your Twitter information. It’s secure!  Note: userlists with dashes in them won’t work yet…

Third-Party Clients - Most 3rd party applications now have support for lists, including Brizzly, Seesmic and Tweetdeck.  Hand-held apps like Tweetie 2 also support lists now.

Found another great Twitter List resource? Feel free to leave me a comment below. And If you would like a Brizzly invite, feel free to contact me in Twitter at @_stevewoods.