So you have your Twitter account and you have a few thousand Twitter followers, great stuff! After a small amount of time, you notice a feature on your twitter account to the top left called lists. “What the heck is this for, Twitter lists!?” you think, why on earth would anyone need a list feature? Well in this post I hope to help decipher exactly why Twitter lists are useful and how to use them effectively to improve your social media experience.

What is a Twitter List?

As your twitter followers increase and you start following lots of relevant Twitter users, being able to keep up to date with all your favourite Tweeps and finding useful tweets can become difficult, if not impossible. One feature of lists is to help you cut through the noise to find the diamonds amongst the coal!

Twitter Lists help you organise tweets you are interested in

A list helps you organise your favourite Twitter users into a type of “Twitter Groups”. So for instance, if you look at my Twitter Lists on my personal account you will notice at the time of writing this blog post I have around ten lists, three of which can be seen below.

Being able to add your favourite Twitter users to groups makes it easy for you to organise the most influential Twitter users you follow into categories like “Web Design“, “Graphic Design” Typography” etc and is useful for when you are having a day where a specific interest is grabbing you. I guess you could compare twitter lists to a telephone directory, it makes it much easier to find people and information you are looking for.

So why should you bother creating Twitter Lists?

There are several reasons you may want to create Twitter lists, one I have already discussed to keep track of your favourite Tweeters but there are more.

Another reason is to build relationships with those who really matter to you in your personal and professional life.

Build Relationships using Twitter Lists

By adding someone to one of your lists that Twitter user is notified and it is almost like giving that person a little high five to say “Yo! My hommie, your tweets rock my world!” and helps to build a mutual respect between the two of you, after all, you think that Twitter owner can add a lot of value to your digital life.

Recommend other Twitter Followers

When you create a new Twitter list you have an option to make it private or public. If you think that some of the people you have in your lists should remain private ( i.e. family members, celebrities you like or a bit of a detective keeping track of your competitors tweets) then do consider making a list private otherwise keep it public.

This helps the Twitter account user benefit from a little bit of publicity should your followers check out the twitter list they are on.

Make a Twitter Search for Twitter users easier by sharing lists

You don’t have to keep your lists stored away in the Twitter closet…get it out!

Simply navigate to the list you would like to share, copy the  url and post it into your Twitter Feed. Hey presto! Twitter list shared!

Do you have to be following the user you include in a Twitter List?

This is a question I asked myself when I started creating lists and the good news is, you don’t have to be following them!

This is particularly good news if you are reaching your “2000” limit and unable to follow any more users ( until you have a 10% followers to following ratio ) but don’t want to loose some really influential and educational tweets.

To gain the most benefit from this part of the twitter list feature  then you need to use twitter tools like justunfollow.com.

One of the features that Justunfollow has is that it allows you to find who is following, not following and unfollowing your Twitter account cutting out the mystery of who to follow and unfollow.

There are more features to this Twitter tool but I recommend visiting the site for more information.

Ok, so I kind of understand Twitter lists now but how do I create one?

Rather than rewrite the wheel, so to speak, I have provided a link to Twitter’s very own guide in how to do this here.

Should you have any questions about twitter lists or have some more information you would like to share navigate to the bottom of the page and please leave a comment.

P.S. Please add me to some lists too and I may just return the favour! Cheers my dears! 😀

Related articles across the web

• 101 Fabulously Retro Vintage Photoshop Brush Sets
• Communication via structure
• The best Californian graphic designs, 1936-1986 – in pictures
• Two tips for new developers
• Top Ten Signs You’re a Designer
• Featured: Juicy Digital Illustrations by Kayla Schoonraad

What is your Twitter Followers profession?

“You there What is your profession?” The soldier replies ” Im a potter…sir”

the king continues integrating “…and you, what is your profession?” “sc-scultper sir”

And he askes once more ..”you?” “BlackSmith”

“Spartans what is your profession?”

[divider style=”1″]

 Building your Spartan Twitter Followers Army

There are several ways to build your Twitter following on Twitter but there are two common ways. Follow people in the industries you are interested in and they will follow you back or alternatively you can pay someone to give followers.

Slow and steady follower gains but a strong small and influential group

The first path of following people and receive follow backs to those in my particular professional industry is the option i chose. Admittedly it takes time to build a large Twitter following this way but like 300 Spartans going to war, having 300 relevant Twitter followers compared to 30,000 you have paid for that have no real interest in you or your business is a waste of money and a weak following regardless of numbers.

Paying for a fake Social Image

I know some people pay for a following so they can look like they have integrity and are a powerful online social force with something important to say but strength doesn’t come in numbers it comes in the quality of the few and I can quite proudly say every follower I have on Twitter is someone in my area of expertise that may retweet what I tweet and get some benefit from my tweets.

How to spot someone who has paid for followers

Usually spotting a Twitter User that has paid for followers is easy. One key factor is having very few tweets for the amount of followers they have gained. A sure sign something fishy is going on.

You are being decieved by the seller if you pay for fake followers

Not only are you being decieved by the seller of the fake followers but they will also abandon you before you know it. I do know somebody who has bought Twitter Followers and they have started loosing quite a few of those followers a couple of months later.

Do you want to deceive your potential clients?

The worst part of buying Twitter Followers is that you are deceiving your potential clients into thinking you have integrity and influence if they follow you on Twitter when really your reach and influence in Twitter is small.

My final note is this, fight your fight the proper way, take your time ( believe me it takes time! ) and build your following by following others in your industry, retweeting, favouring and sharing other peoples content, build strong relationships with followers and you will gain respect as a true Twitter Power then you too can call yourself a Spartan Tweeter.

[divider style=”1″]

 A top tip to build a truly powerful twitter army

You may already know this but there is a great online program called justunfollow.com. You can see who has followed you, unfollowed you, even copy followers of people you follow which is ideal for building a relevant Twitter Following. I use it every day on the free version but for just a small fee you can follow and unfollow as much as you like and build your following much quicker.

Follow me on Twitter