Despite the popularity of Twitter, there are still many people and small businesses who are either just starting out or are trying to figure out how to use it. There are tons of different Twitter 101 articles out there, this is not one of them. What you will get from this post is where to find Twitter Lists and why you should use them.

Why Should You Care?

Depending on how you use Twitter, there are a few answers to this question. List are used to separate and organize; Twitter lists are no different.

Small Business

A small business can use lists as a great marketing tool. You can share your lists with clients to keep them in touch with other people in their industry. They are also a great way to keep up on what clients and potential clients are up to on Twitter.

Average Joe

You may not have as many followers or people you follow as a business might, but in many cases you are having lots of conversations. Separating your friends into different categories will help you keep track of who talks about what.

Omnipresent Character On LOST

If you are a fan of the show, you know for the last 5 and a half seasons, they have been talking about lists. I am sure if they could tweet, Jacob would have had a bunch of Twitter lists despite his extreme dislike of technology.

Where To Find A List

1. Tweetdeck Directory

For those of you who have been to Tweetdeck’s site recently, you may have noticed they have added a directory of lists. The Tweetdeck Directory is really easy to find topics of interest. You can sort by category or by typing your search term into the search bar. From there a list of all the people who have lists that match your search will pop up. From there you can see all kinds of information about the list.

You are also given the choice to follow the list on Twitter or add this list to a new column in Tweetdeck.

2. Listorious

Make Tech Easier has mentioned Listorious before when Twitter lists first debuted. This is an entire site based around Twitter lists. You can search for topics by tag, people or by category.

Once you find a list you like, you can either sign in via Twitter Oath then follow the list. Or you can click the other button and view the list on Twitter, then follow from there.

3. Your Followers Or People You Follow

Your followers are probably one of the best sources for finding lists you may be interested in. You will probably have similar interests, I mean they are following you for one reason or another.

As an example, I follow @wchingya. She has a brilliant social media and blogging tips site. Since those are things I am interested in, she is likely to have lists of people who I would be interested in. In fact, there are quite a few.

4. Random People

The same way you would look through your friend’s lists, you can also look at random people’s lists. Two sites to aid you in finding random people are Justtweetit or Wefollow. Both will allow you to search by keyword, category or other options to find interesting people.

5. Google

Last but not least is good old Google. By telling it where to look, you can search the entire site for a specific tag or keyword. Enter in a sting of words that look like this, site:twitter.com/*/YOUR TAG . Replace [YOUR TAG] with the term you’d like to find.

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What unique ways do you have to use Twitter lists?

Image credit: Fanboy30

Trevor is a freelance writer covering topics ranging from the Android OS to free web and desktop applications. When he is not writing about mobile productivity, He is coaching and playing the world’s greatest game… Soccer.

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