Connect With Readers And Authors On Twitter, Part 2

My last post was all about #Hashtags on Twitter as a way to connect... This week is part two of connecting on Twitter.

Lists. Oh the “List” the often over looked hidden gem of the Twitter-verse. More powerful than a single #Hashtag, leaping over mounds of mindless tweets in a single bound. Is it lifesaver? A sanity-saver? Nope! It is all that and more! Okay no, not really, it’s just a simple “List” on Twitter. But it is a damn helpful tool.

There’s been some confusion as to what function Lists have on Twitter. It’s not any sort of group thing like on FB it is simply a way of organizing your Newsfeed. In a perfect world where we have no distractions the only thing on our Twitter feed would be only the things we are there to do, like network or reach an audience. But in reality most of our twitter feeds are full of celebrities we like, TV shows we watch, news sources, the actually people we are there to follow, and the random person we’ve found entertaining with their tweets.

On any given hour my twitter feed is a mess of jumbled up information, political debates, some funny response to something very serious, and multiple authors sharing info or passing along links. This morning I have a couple of authors tweeting about their books, Tyrese from Fast & the Furious, and a retweet from Ice-T:

This can make it very hard to find the stuff I am actively searching for. This is where Lists come in handy. I’ve organized the people I follow into categories. I have a list for Celebrities, Music, Nerd/Fangirl stuff, Publishers, Authors, Book Bloggers, TV shows, etc.

Yes it’s a little tedious to put everyone, one by one, onto a list. But in the end it is worth it when you are looking for something, or even better when you are trying to avoid looking for something, say like a show spoiler (this happens a lot on twitter) so if it’s the day after a show that I haven’t watched I will purposely not go to that shows list, so I can try my best to avoid spoilers.

But when I’m looking for say calls for submissions from Publishers or publishing news I can go to “Publishers” and get only a newsfeed full of the publishers I have on my List. Huzzah! That makes my day easier.

Then when I want to indulge in some Nerdy/Fangirl stuff I can pop on over to my “NrrrdGrrrl Stuff” List (don’t get the spelling reference, you need to look up mc chris and enjoy the nerdy goodness) and check out cast, crew, artists, and what not from some of my nerdy passions.

So bottom line, Lists make Twitter in all of its eclectic glory a little bit more organized and helps you find exactly the Tweets you are looking for. No jedi mind tricks required.