4 Unique Ways To Use Twitter Lists

Many people feel that Twitter is only a sales broadcasting platform, but I'm sure that you've heard of the positive causes that have been spread via Twitter as well.

The best way to keep Twitter a valuable, viable channel is to emphasize the social aspect, and one important way to do this is to show appreciation for your Twitter friends using lists. I'll discuss 4 easy methods below.

#1: Follow @ListWatcher.

@ListWatcher is a great resource that sends you a direct message (DM) when anyone adds, removes or changes you on any of their lists. This is such a simple reason to send a thank-you tweet for adding you to their list. It adds a special touch that you have taken time out of your busy schedule to thank someone for thinking of you. People love to feel appreciated and valued by their fellow Twitter peeps.

It's also an interesting way to understand how others perceive your presence on Twitter. It may help you to change or modify your tweets if you feel it's an incorrect perception. It may also give you a positive perception of yourself, which can be a great source of encouragement if you're feeling a lack of motivation in your endeavors.

Seeing DMs come in from @listwatcher is also a great reminder to continue adding people to your Twitter lists. It's very easy to forget about this relatively new feature, which provides a great way to connect and keep up with new and old friends by reducing Twitter's noise.

#2: Support Your Twitter Lists With Hootsuite.

Hootsuite.com is the holy grail of Twitter applications. Hootsuite has many incredible features, but we'll focus on Twitter lists for now. Be sure to add your Twitter lists as columns in order to scroll down and take time to review them. Give back by retweeting great quotes, links and any other interesting tidbits that you discover.

The great thing about sharing your appreciation in this way is that it doesn't take an enormous amount of time to retweet great ideas and content. All it takes is scanning down the columns of your Twitter lists and finding the ones that would be beneficial for yourself and your friends to retweet. When I find great tweets, I add them to my Twitter favorites, which is another way to show your appreciation. Others can view your Twitter favorites and find interesting people to follow from your favorite tweets.

Tweetdeck provides some similar features, but one of the best advantages of Hootsuite over Tweetdeck is that it doesn't take up a lot of resources on your computer. It's possible to view multiple columns of Twitter lists in Hootsuite without having to worry about resource issues. It also provides for a much faster response time—I used to waste time waiting for Tweetdeck to load. I've been an avid Hootsuite fan since I've made the switch.

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#3: Ask Your Friends How They Want to Be Listed.

As I added my friends to certain Twitter lists, I thought to myself, “What if this person wants to be listed differently?” This prompted a blog post in which I asked my friends, Which Twitter List Defines You? View some of the responses and consider asking your friends, especially if they're known for multiple talents. As you can see, Denise Wakeman shared a variety of different options.

It's not necessary to write a blog post to ask your friends; it can also be accomplished by sending a private direct message or sending a public @ reply, depending on your preference.

The approach is your decision, but the goal is the same: discover your friends' Twitter list preferences and share them. There are some people who find it hard to initiate conversation on Twitter. Simply asking for a person's Twitter list preference can also be a great icebreaker in meeting new people.

This exercise helped me to better understand my friends, learn which Twitter lists they would appreciate being part of and can also help build a sense of community as others share their thoughts.

Twitter lists can provide a great directory at a glance without having to go to other websites such as Twellow or WeFollow, although these are great sites to find new relationships. Start thinking of how you would like to be listed so you'll be prepared when you're asked for your Twitter list preference.

#4: Share Your Lists on Listorious.

Listorious.com is a fairly new site that features the top Twitter lists around the Twitterverse. Create a new account and add your Twitter lists to the directory. This gives exposure to your friends as you create and add your Twitter lists to this site.

Once you've added your Twitter lists, it's possible to recommend people from Listorious after clicking on your newly created list. Just add in the person's username and there's an option to tweet it right at that moment. This is an incredibly easy way to show that you appreciate and value your friends. Take some time to search around and find some great Twitter lists to follow.

Make sure to check out this very popular post on How To Market Your Business With Twitter Lists here on Social Media Examiner. I learned some new things from this post, especially about SEO.

What do you think about these ideas? Share your comments below…

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