What Is "Listed" on Twitter?
Twitter generates a constant stream of online messages, known as "tweets." One means of keeping track of tweets that interest you is to "follow" a particular user, which means tweets by that user show up on your Twitter feed. Another way to keep track of tweets is to is to add particular Twitter accounts to "lists" categorized by location, subject or other designation of your choice.
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Twitter Lists
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Twitter lists show all the tweets from a group of Twitter users you have organized according to categories that are meaningful to you. Examples of ways to organize Twitter lists include users from a particular city or country, politically liberal or conservative Twitter users, or Twitter users that focus on a particular activity, such as cooking. Your Twitter lists may be public, which means other users have access to them, or private, which means you are the only person who can see that list and the tweets contained in them.
Lists vs. Followers
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When you follow a Twitter user, all the tweets produced by that user appear on your Twitter feed whenever you sign onto the service. This differs from Twitter lists, which appear only when you click on the link for that particular list. In addition, you may place a user on several lists, even if you do not follow that user or if the user does not follow you. Users may also place you on one or more of their lists whether they follow you or not.
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Lists vs. Hashtags
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Hashtags are a means to include a particular tweet under a listing for a keyword, such as #Obama for tweets relating to President Obama. Using hashtags with your tweets means your tweet will appear along with other tweets that use the same hashtag. Hashtags differ from lists; they are visible on the Twitter feed only for a short period. Lists you have created appear permanently on the right-hand side of your profile page in Twitter, while lists on which you are included appear on a clickable link near the top of your Twitter profile page.
Lists vs. Directories
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Twitter directories list Twitter users by categories, much like the Yellow Pages organizes businesses by particular categories. Users may create their own pages in Twitter directories in much the same way businesses create Yellow Pages listings. Lists are similar to directories; however, directories appear on their own Web pages outside of Twitter, while lists are contained entirely within Twitter.
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References
- Twitter Help Center: How To Use Twitter Lists; 2011
- Twitter Help Center: What Are Hashtags ("#" Symbols)?; 2011
- Mashable; How To -- Use Twitter Lists; Josh Catone; November 2009
- Gigaom; Twitter's "Listed" Stat -- Is It a Measure of Influence?; Meryl K. Evans; November 2009
- TweetFindBlog; Why Being Listed on Top Twitter Lists is Better Than Having Many Twitter Followers; Ruben Orozco; March 2011
- Digital Inspiration; Quick Note to Twitter Users Who are Listed on WeFollow; Amit Agarwal; February 2010
Resources
- Photo Credit Joe Corrigan/Getty Images Entertainment/Getty Images
