Twitter recently introduced a feature called Lists, which integrates user made collections of Twitter users into its system. At first glance this seems to be another popularity contest from Twitter, trying to reinvent itself as it is facing stiff competition from Facebook and Friendfeed.
If we peel back the layers, however, we can see that it is actually a very well thought out way of adding a layer of user-based vetting to Twitter accounts. Follower numbers have increased hugely recently, sparked by the Ashton Kutcher v CNN Twitter race to 1,000,000 – and so have the number of accounts which have tens of thousands of followers. This makes it difficult for normal users to tell who is worth following and who is simply ‘making up the numbers’.
Twitter lists
The list function also allows a large amount of customization to each person’s account – you can show what or who you are interested in, in different categories and fields. The possibilities are endless.
Twitter lists just recently also introduced a description field – 100 characters for you to describe your list and the criteria for adding to it. This type of innovation is very good for people who are trying to market their lists or get other people to follow them. The lists previosuly seemed a little bit too lacking of information, especially if the titles of the each user’s list was cryptic or not straightforward. Now we can see the background and justification – it’s another good update from the Twitter team!