Twitter is by far my favorite social network. Sure, you may have to filter out the “junk” tweets from the quality ones, but overall Twitter is the best social network for personal or business use. I have two accounts: my personal one @DavidCarlson1 as well as the account for this site @YoungAdultMoney. I utilize lists on both of them and haven’t read my main Twitter feed for years, and I would highly recommend you make the switch as well.
In case you missed my past posts on social media, here they are:
Below are a handful of my Twitter lists:
Lists are useful because let’s face it: your main feed gets pretty clogged up. What if there are a few users whose tweets you never want to miss? If you follow even a hundred people you are likely to miss their tweets. What if you follow two hundred? A thousand? You are bound to miss some of their tweets. Putting them in their own list and controlling the number of users will allow you to never miss a tweet.
One of my favorite lists is my Minnesota list. When something big happens in Minnesota or the Viking’s are playing there are a ton of tweets that are relevant to what is going on here, where I live.
The best thing about Twitter lists? You don’t have to follow people to list them. I know a lot of people who want to follow more than 2,000 people, but you can’t because Twitter has a ceiling where you can only follow more than 2,000 people once you have more than 2,000 people following you back. If any of the people you follow are famous or simply do not follow back, you will never get past the 2,000 limit. Instead, unfollow them and throw them in a list!
You can also follow other people’s lists. For example, I follow the following lists on my @YoungAdultMoney account:
Following other people’s lists is a good strategy because they already put in all the work adding people to the list and most likely spend at least a little time maintaining it. This can also be a good way to discover people to add to your own lists.
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I personally would rather be listed than followed. There’s a good chance a VERY high percentage of your followers don’t even read your tweets. Focus on building lists and being listed and you will have a much better experience on Twitter.
Do you use lists on Twitter? Why or why not?
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That is great advice, I have not used lists before and constantly struggle with having to sort through the “crap” from the stuff I want to read.
@MonsterPiggyBank There is still crap on lists, but not quite as much : )
I do have to use lists in order to keep up with things that I want to actually see. We follow like 1,500 people right now, so if I didn’t use lists I would never see any tweets from people I want to hear from regularly:)
@GregatClubThrifty Exactly my thought process
I really need to do this myself in order to save some time and filter out all the junk in my feed. I just need to sit down and actually do it.
@FrugalRules It takes a lot of time to set up lists…I’ve slacked on maintaining them. I need to set aside time one of these days to go through and update them all.
I didn’t even know that Twitter had listed. Obviously I’m Twitter-stupid. Will have to look into this!
@SenseofCents Most people do not even realize they exist, and if they do, they don’t use them! But honestly it’s the best way to go.
DC, you are always so wise! I have been meaning to start up a list for a long time, but just haven’t done it. My main twitter feed is ridiculous and I can’t keep up with it anymore. I think I am going to do it today!
@DebtRoundUp Haha thanks. Not sure about wise, but I haven’t looked at my main twitter feed for over 3 years :0
I like that you don’t have to follow people to add them to lists. That’s an awesome feature I always seem to forget. Cool post.
@AverageJoeMoney Thanks!
I’ve always been aware of the lists but haven’t gotten around to using them. I actually enjoy following the full twitter feed.
@TacklingOurDebt That will change : ) just kidding! That’s great!
This has been one of those nagging things I’ve been meaning to do for weeks, but super important things like catching up on our DVR get in the way. :)
Good info. Hopefully this will get my butt in gear.
@Johnny @ Our Freaking Budget Haha no multitasking? No DVR + working on Twitter??
I’ll be honest with you… still not set up Lists… I NEED to do this!!! :)
@SavvyScot1 Yes you do!
I have only one list with my favorite bloggers since I have only a blog account, the idea about making several lists is brilliant!
I always felt I was under-utilizing Twitter and your post confirmed it. I had no idea you could make Lists for your account. I also like the idea of having a personal and business account. I rarely look at my feed from my site because it is full of stuff I don’t care about. I need to change how I use Twitter. Thanks for the info!
@KyleJames1 I would hate to have a combined business/personal account. Love keeping it separate.
I never knew what a Twitter list was. I”ll usually get added to a few every week, but didn’t know what they did. Thanks for writing this article.
@JustinatTheFrugalPath I love getting added! It means there’s a MUCH better chance that someone is actually going to see your tweets.
So that’s what the list feature is all about. i kept seeing that I was being added to lists but I didn’t really understand what that meant. My feed is getting a little out of hand so I really need to set up some lists with my favorites so I can get the the tweets/content I really want to see.
@StudentDebtSurvivor I would highly recommend it. Twitter is a lot more fun and easier to use with lists.
Didn’t know you could do that. Thanks.
@Eyesonthedollar No problem! Seriously the best feature.
I don’t use twitter lists, but after reading this I will – especially because you can ‘list’ people you don’t follow.
I feel like I’m missing something. How do we find lists?
@frugalportland Hmmm I’m not sure how to explain it besides go to your profile, click lists, and you can start from there? My lists are located here: http://twitter.com/davidcarlson1/lists
This is a great feature. I need to unclog my twitter feed.