Twitter Lists – What are they and how do you use them?

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Twitter Lists are one of the features that Twitter offers to help users organise the people they follow. Twitter lists are a way to create a private Twitter directory that is separated from Twitter’s main timeline or Twitter Homepage.

What are Twitter Lists?

Twitter lists allow you users to compile user profiles of people, brands and companies they want to keep track of more easily. Twitter offers various default lists such as ‘Following’, ‘Followers’, ‘Friends’ and ‘Subscriptions’, Twitter also allows account holders to create custom lists. Twitter lists are not available for Twitter pages so business Twitter accounts can’t create Twitter lists.

The default Twitter Lists are public, this means that they are viewable by anyone who has access to your profile so you may want to be cautious in listing your boss in one of the ‘ Twitter Followers ‘ lists.

Twitter has a list privacy setting allowing users to choose who can see Twitter lists they have created and it also allows users to create private lists so users can keep the public from seeing their Twitter list profiles.

How to create a Twitter List

1. Click your profile icon on Twitter to log in.
2. Choose Lists from the drop-down menu.
3. In the left sidebar, click Create a list. Create a new list by clicking Create a new list.
4. Enter a name and any additional information for your list. The name of your list must be 25 characters or fewer, and it can’t start with a number. A description can have a total length of up to 100 characters.
5. Select whether to make your list public or the list private. Anyone on Twitter can see and join your list if it’s public. If it’s private, only you will be able to view it.

After you’ve created a new list, you’ll be taken to a page where it’s possible to add others to it. There are three methods for adding individuals:

1. Look for a person’s name, username or email address.
2. Select any user and then choose Add or remove from lists from the drop-down menu on your Following page.
3. Go to any user’s profile page, click the three dots symbol, and pick Add or Remove From Lists.

You can add or delete people from your Twitter lists at any time using the options these options.

To access your lists, login to your account and click on the profile symbol. If you don’t see your new list right away, try refreshing the page and clearing your cache.

Ideas on how to use Twitter Lists for marketing

Now you have a list, how can you start to use it to help your social media marketing on Twitter? There are a few clever ways.

1. Keep an eye on the competition

Twitter is an excellent monitoring tool. But you don’t want to give rivals a follow, or let them know you’re watching their tweets.

You don’t need to be following others to add them to a list. This makes private lists an excellent way to keep track of groups of people that you don’t want to follow. Just make sure your rivals list is set to private before adding accounts to it. Each competitor will receive a notification if the list is made public.

In addition to monitoring tweets, lists are a useful tool for keeping track of the competition.

You can view what lists your competitors are on from their profile page. This might provide you with useful data about who your rivals are paying attention to and interacting with, so you may pay attention to them too.

2. Showcase employees or brand advocates

You make it simple for any Twitter user to see what your best brand cheerleaders are saying on the network by making a public list of workers or brand advocates. It’s also an easy method to thank your most devoted fans.

3. Highlight your different offerings or brand accounts

When your business grows, you might have a variety of different Twitter accounts for various items or product lines. A Twitter list is a fantastic method to bring all of these services together in one spot.

4. Monitor relevant conversations

Since a Twitter list is essentially a curated mini-Twitter feed, creating Twitter lists based on themes relevant to your field is an excellent method to stay up to speed on the most crucial discussions in your area.

A well-designed feed may be an effective tool for social listening. Of course, you’re not the only one creating Twitter lists. There are most likely a plethora of existing Twitter lists that are jam-packed with amazing stuff relevant to your area. Why not subscribe to other professionals’ lists if they’ve already done the work for you?

Look for relevant lists to subscribe to on the Twitter profiles of individuals or organizations in your field. Look at what lists they’ve established, subscribed to, and been added to on the Lists tab.

For example, Google Analytics keeps a list of women who work in the analytics industry. When you come across a list that piques your interest, click on the name of the list and then choose to subscribe. This allows you to receive updates from lists without having to follow their members’ activities.

5. Monitor which lists you appear on

You’ll be notified if you’re added to a public list. When someone adds you to a list, it’s an excellent indication that they are interested in what you’re up to. Examine their profile to see whether it would be OK to follow them or join one of your own lists in return.

You might also want to consider starting a private Twitter list of people who’ve added you to lists. Consider it as a method for gathering leads.

It’s a good idea to check which lists you’re on from time to time and make sure none worry you. Go to your Twitter profile and look for Lists, then Member of, to find out what lists you’re a member of. Just take a look just to be safe because this data is public.

6. Share Twitter lists

When you’ve developed or discovered a fantastic Twitter list, you could want to make it available as a helpful reference. Simply go to the list and copy and paste the URL to share it on Twitter. The following is the format: https://twitter.com/[username]/lists/[listname]

Make the most of Twitter lists

Twitter lists are a free feature on the platform that allows you to monitor accounts in a more precise way than the general feed allows. Use them strategically and they are great marketing tools too!