I like Twitter Lists, a lot. Since their inception, I’ve been slowly adding to groups that I think are pretty good uses of the tool. I’ve also been added to a good number. But what strikes me is that out of all the public lists out there, very few people are following lists compiled by others.
Only five of the lists I’m on have more than 50 followers – compilations by Cheth, Alonis, Tweetprogress (automated list), BuzzEdition, and Kim. Of the top lists on Listorious.com (great site, by the way), only 25 have more than 1,000 followers.
I’ve written a fair bit about why I like lists, but these low numbers show that few have the free attention to click and follow lists compiled by others, let alone track those streams. Social pro Chris Brogan wrote recently about how sometimes it looks from outside like he’s chilling out, but he’s really working. That’s what I think about Twitter for meaningful use – you get out of it what you put in. Lists are a great tool, but you’ve got to work them. ~ Adriel Hampton is a San Francisco public servant and host of the Gov 2.0 Radio podcast. Follow him on Twitter @adrielhampton..
Only five of the lists I’m on have more than 50 followers – compilations by Cheth, Alonis, Tweetprogress (automated list), BuzzEdition, and Kim. Of the top lists on Listorious.com (great site, by the way), only 25 have more than 1,000 followers.
I’ve written a fair bit about why I like lists, but these low numbers show that few have the free attention to click and follow lists compiled by others, let alone track those streams. Social pro Chris Brogan wrote recently about how sometimes it looks from outside like he’s chilling out, but he’s really working. That’s what I think about Twitter for meaningful use – you get out of it what you put in. Lists are a great tool, but you’ve got to work them. ~ Adriel Hampton is a San Francisco public servant and host of the Gov 2.0 Radio podcast. Follow him on Twitter @adrielhampton..
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Ain’t that the truth? If Joe wants to create a list with 10 tweeps, he isn’t searching (because outside of Listorious there is no way to search, short of manually scrolling through the lists following @dannybrown, for instance) if those 10 tweeps are already on a list. So, he creates his own and doesn’t follow an existing one.
Yesterday, I followed plus or minus 18 of my own lists and 10 other lists. After maneuvering things around today (see my Twitter rant blog post), I currently follow nine lists, eight of which are mine.