Did Twitter Open Pandora’s Box With Its Lists?

First, what’s the list function? If you have a Twitter account, you can create a list. In fact, the list will have a URL that will include your Twitter username. Lists by default are public although they can be made private. You can create a list from your home page by clicking “New list” and naming your list. (The list I created is @ZimblerMiller/us-troops-supporters)

The first question is: Will this make Twitter a different kind of popularity contest? Will people judge the value of people’s tweets by how many lists they are on instead of how many followers they have? Note that the number of lists you are on is visible on your Twitter profile (as well as your home page).

The second question is: Will people “buy” their way onto the lists of influential people? And if so, will the FTC’s new rules of disclosure apply to these transactions.

The third question is: What will this do to the existing third-party applications that put Twitter people in various categories? For example, I emailed the application http://tweepml.org (“share groups of Twitter users”) to ask if I could import my Twitter list into this application. The response was: “We are working on that. Should take a week or two.”

Stay tuned for developments in this new Twitter function. And for help now in utilizing Twitter, see “What You Should Know About Using Twitter Effectively and Strategically”

Written by Phyllis Zimbler Miller
Miller Mosaic, LLC
Los Angeles, CA
Exclusively for HULIQ.com