Twitter: Increase Your Influence with Twitter Lists

Some Social Media Experts I respect recommend limiting how many you follow on Twitter. I respectfully disagree because I am not a buckle bunny.

If someone is not interested in interacting with me why would I follow them? Or put them in my TwitterFeed?

And if I am not following them I won’t see what they share and they have lost me as a source of having what they Tweet shared there or anywhere else.

Yes, I know that you can interact with someone even if they don’t follow you – and that many do just that – but why limit your followers now that you can organize them using Twitter lists?

Use Twitter lists to easily hone in on
just the conversations you are interested in.

Twitter allows us to create up to 20 lists and follow as many lists others have created as we wish. You could put your friends in one list, your closest collaborators in another and your woodworking buddies in another. Or you could have all your gardening friends in one, your co-workers in another, and your blogging buddies in another.

Click a list to see only the tweets by the people on that list.

Lists are very easy to use. You can probably figure them out all by yourself, but just in case you run into difficulty finding them or using them here are screen captures for both the original and new Twitter layouts. You can go step-by-step or if you get stuck just look for the image that looks like the screen you’re on for details.

In the original twitter version, lists are found in the right column below the Twitter search box and above trending as shown in the blue circle in the image below:

In the original view simply click Lists, and then New List (at the bottom of any existing lists).  To add someone to a list go to their Twitter page and click the Lists drop-down arrow and select the list or lists you wish to add them to by checking the box as shown in the blue area of this screen capture:

In the new Twitter format, lists is just below the box where you type your Tweets, on the same line and to the right of Timeline and searches as shown by the yellow circle in the image below:

If you click on lists you will see the create a list function and a lists following you option. Simply give your list a name and a description and select public (to let others use your list) or private (so only you can see it).

You will probably have to refresh the page to see your new list. Select the list and you will see “Find people to add to your list” and an empty box as shown in the image below. Just type their Twitter username or their name into that box. (You can also simply go to their Twitter page yourself or add them the next time you are there.)

When Twitter shows you their name you can follow them if you aren’t already and/or add them to a list. Click the gray arrow to choose the list to which you want to add that Twitter user as shown in the image below:

In the original Twitter layout, lists are in the right column under the search box and below any searches you have saved as shown in the blue oval in the image below:

Click view all to see all the lists you follow and all the lists following you:

As always if you can’t figure this out you are invited to Tweet to me @GrowMap, leave a comment in this post or use the contact information on the contact tab. I am always happy to assist.

I invite you to #followfriday the Blogging Buddies list that should include all of the current awesome members of the Secret Blog Club.

Members need to know that our forum went down the first time Murray Newland’s blog did. Murray’s blogs were moved to a new server, but the forum is still down. I sincerely hope it comes back up or he can at least get me a copy of what was in it so it can be resurrected somewhere else.

P.S. The reason Twitter lists can increase your influence is that they allow you to follow everyone who follows you and still hone in on Tweets by your favorites.

The more lists you are on, the greater reach and influence you will have because many use Twitter lists to find new people to follow and to see who others believe are influential.

Want some excellent tips on how to use Twitter? Read Jeremiah Owyang‘s How to Use Twitter.

Tagged as: Twitter, twitter lists