Twitters lists - What are they and should they be public or private?

November 6, 6:01 AMNY Social Media ExaminerL Martin Johnson Pratt

1 comment Print Email RSS Subscribe

Subscribe

Get alerts when there is a new article from the NY Social Media Examiner. Read Examiner.com's terms of use.

Email Address   Include other special offers from Examiner.com Terms of Use

My Twitter List
L Martin Johnson Pratt

Twitter launched Twitter List last week. What is Twitter List? And why is this significant? Twitter List is a tool enabling Tweeters to create their own lists on Twitter. The new feature allows Twitter users to organize the people they follow. Others can follow their lists, saving them the time of trying to figure who to follow and why. This is significant because allows you to place value on the influence you have on your own followers.

Previously it was only Twitter that recommended who to follow, through its official list of suggested users. If you made that you were almost guaranteed hundreds of thousands of followers – thus turning your twitter account into a mini cable network. Actually in fact, California's election commission is looking into whether such social media activity should be regulated.

You may now create up to 20 lists, each containing up to 500 tweeters. Those lists may be kept private or, made public. Your public Twitter List is visible to everyone, whether or not they follow you, and the same is true with other users lists that include you. Instead of just following one list of Twitter accounts that you've carefully researched and created, you can now create sub-lists You can also go to someone’s Twitter List and "bookmark" them by following the entire Twitter List or choose tweeters from them to add to your own lists.Twitter Lists are clearly a convenient way to organize tweet streams by affinity groups, like location, topic, or expertise.

My question was should I make my Twitter List public or private? So I did what Tweeters do ask Twitterworld. Here are some of the answers

@deannatroupe said: "It depends on the list. If you're making industry lists, I think those should be public, but personal ones -private"

@rizzyvoe said: "Good question. Mine r public, but I think I'm going 2 make them private."

@jazzzyone said: "Some of mine are private. Some are public."

@ElijahRYoung said: "Social media should be social. Not a believer in asking for privacy in a giant public forum. Keep it public!"

@LifeofSubstance said: "i started mine as private, but thought others might find them useful. some ppl follow them so i guess i was right.".

@ILLArtistry said: "private, people are hella nosey."

Is My Twitter List public or private? Oh yeah that’s right, I only have ONE Twitter List.   My One Twitter List is public. I agree with @ElijahRYoung that Social Media is Social. So choose what works better for you and your followers but keep in mind no matter which you choose someone is going to disagree with your decision. That just the nature of Social Networks