Twitter lists: Adding to the noise or helping?
So everyone is finally being let in on the party that is Twitter lists. Instead of searching for Twitter users around a topic and looking at what they’re saying to decide whether to follow them directly, you can now follow a list and monitor a group of users curated by someone else.
Is this helpful in cutting through the noise? Or is it adding to it by creating yet another information stream to follow? I’m torn.
One way lists could help is creating a new metric for ranking the credibility of Twitter users. How many lists a person is on could be a more accurate representation of the value they’re adding to the Twitterverse. That may not hold for long as more users get access to lists and their numbers rapidly proliferate (and people simply add themselves to lots of lists just realized that Twitter doesn’t let you add yourself to your own lists, glad to see that).
Lists will make it easier for new Twitter users to quickly find conversations that interest them. Right now, all Twitter offers to new users is the much-maligned and mysterious Suggested User List (SUL). Evan Williams has already said that the new lists feature is intended to eventually replace the SUL.
The move could lead to all sorts of changes in how Twitter users act on the network, whether they merely watch lists for topics and follow only people who they actively engage with.
But now beyond watching the stream of people you’re following, there is yet another channel of information to follow. As of yet, Twitter lists have not been incorporated into many third-party clients, so you’re forced to go to the Web site to see them. The net result for now? Lists are yet more noise and add to information burden. I’m sure this is an issue that many developers are tackling (some like listorious.com are already doing it), and I eagerly await more innovation around lists.
