Update: Twitter had introduced a list widget that you can place on your blog to display the list of your choice. TechCrunch describes as “pretty cool”.
You’d think given the buzz about the recent launch of Twitter Lists that someone had re-invented slice bread. That said, my take is the emergence of Twitter Lists is putting the cart before the horse.
By that, there’s a bigger problem that Twitter should have addressed before introducing Lists: specifically, how to find new people to follow that meet your personal or professional interests. Sure, there are these kind of services available such as Mr. Tweet but it’s such a major problem that it’s something Twitter should be addressing.
The problem with creating a Twitter List is you start by adding people you already know or follow. For example, let’s say you’re into cars, and want to create a list focused on manufacturers. You start with Ford’s Scott Monty and perhaps add a few more people. At that point, you may need some help with suggestions on who else to add. Unfortunately, Twitter Lists falls flat.
If Twitter wanted to put the horse before the cart, it should have started by launching a kick-ass new follower tool. This would have been well-received tool because it would have given all users a new tool to find new people to follow. Then, Twitter should have launched Twitter Lists, which would have
built to support and enhance the new follower tool. This would have made Twitter Lists more useful by also providing a new follower recommendation tool.
Instead, Twitter got ahead of itself – perhaps because there was so much interest and use of groups within tools such as Tweetdeck. Hopefully, Twitter will take a step backward, and now focus on helping people add new followers.
If you are interested in creating a Twitter List, here’s a good video by Amy Porterfield (aka @amyporterfield).
5 Comments
I use twitter lists for exactly the problem you describe. I don't have time to discover and follow dozens of niche tweeps, but lists made by others simplify and stratify what would otherwise be labour intensive work.
'Oh I can follow all the people at 'x' venture capital company?' Done. '80 people in digital content management?' Great.
The real problem, imo, is that you can realistically follow more than 1000+ people anyway, so Twitter doesn't really scale as a social channel, only as a broadcast and feedback medium. I have no idea what Twitter is going to do about that.
I've never had the problem of finding people to follow, but actually I see lists as a great solution to said problem. Find an interesting list, then follow people on it. Since everyone's lists (whether they created or just listed) is on their profile, they're easy to find.
Also I think Twitter thinks they solved that problem of finding people to follow with recommended Twitter user list. Unfortunately it's not as targeted as Mr. Tweet but it's something.
Kelly,
I've done some more thinking about Twitter Lists and talked to a few people about it, and I'm beginning to see how they could be useful for a variety of different ways. Thanks for the wading in.
cheers, Mark
While I do like the idea of twitter lists, I also find they miss the mark.
If I follow a list containing the most influential people in tech, which I do, I still find that the vast majority of tweets are completely unrelated to tech. This is not something twitter can control but does not make lists less than stellar in my books.
I think lists have their value but there are, as you point out, drawbacks when someone else is curating who you follow.
Thanks for the comment!
Mark