A List is a curated selection of X (formerly known as Twitter) accounts. Social media users can either create their own Lists to help organize their marketing strategies or subscribe to those created by other people. Viewing a Twitter List timeline displays the tweets curated only from the selected accounts.

Twitter allows individual users to create up to 1,000 Lists, each with up to 5,000 users on it. The idea behind Twitter Lists is to manage and guide conversations in the Twitter environment and help people or businesses to follow tweets from particular people.

How to create or edit a Twitter List

To create a Twitter List, go to your Twitter profile page and click on the profile image in the upper-right section of the page to open your menu, then:

  • Click on Lists
  • Choose Create new List
  • Enter a title for your Twitter list and optional description
  • Check the Private or Public box to determine whether the list will be visible to others.

When in your Twitter List menu, it’s also possible to edit the people you’re following. Simply click on the name of the List you want to edit and click on List Members.

Using Twitter Lists

Adding people to a Twitter list is a great way to improve your social listening strategy. You can use lists to track influencers, competitors, customers and more.

You can also subscribe to lists curated by another user. Go to the profile of the user whose list you want to follow and click on Lists. You’ll find a selection of all the individual’s public lists and you’ll be able to click on the one that you want to subscribe to. When you’ve chosen the right list, click Subscribe. This can be a great way to keep up with lists curated around a specific industry or topic.

Twitter lists are a useful addition to your social media strategy. In addition to listening and following industry-related news, you can:

  • List influencers that you want to interact with in the future.
  • List news companies and reporters to build your PR connections.
  • List people who frequently interact with your Twitter posts, to create a collection of potential advocates.
  • List your competitors to keep an eye on their social media strategies.
  • List thought leaders to inspire you when you’re looking for content to produce, curate or publish.