Twitter Lists: My Secret Weapon to Manage 140 Character Conversations

Step 1: Admit You Have a Problem
This week, I downloaded the Just Unfollow app and learned a few things about my Twitter follower patterns: When I travel, I binge follow restaurants, chefs, bloggers and other interesting people. When I watch TV (lookin' at you, Top Chef), I binge follow actors, directors, hosts and even characters on the shows.  During elections, I binge follow staff and candidates. And, during football season, I binge follow coaches, players and funny fans.

All of that is well and good until you find yourself following over 10,000 accounts like I did.

Twitter is just less helpful and relevant when your news feed is so cluttered that it's not interesting to you. For years, I've been generally avoiding my news feed and exclusively paying attention to Twitter through my Twitter lists.

Step 2: Make a Plan
I have Twitter lists for just about everything - cities I visit often, favorite foodies, political professionals that are interesting on both the right and the left, members of the media, digital innovators, celebs... and the most important list to me, My Twitter Posse. That's the people I actually care if I miss a tweet.

Twitter used to limit you to only twenty lists with no more than 500 people on them. And, I was hitting that limit hard. But, they've lifted the cap, so I'm recommending listmania!

Step 3: Know the Rules About Twitter Lists
First and foremost, decide if you want to make your lists public or private. If you make them public, others can view them and even subscribe to them. Twitter also notifies you when you've been added to a public list, so it's a good way to let someone know you find their account valuable or interesting. AND, MOST IMPORTANTLY TO MY ATTEMPT AT CURATION: YOU CAN ADD PEOPLE TO LISTS WITHOUT FOLLOWING THEM. So, you won't end up with a cluttered 10,000 account news feed like I did.

Step 4: Define Your Interests and Make Lists
If you're just getting started consider setting up the following lists (or make up your own based on your interests):

• People I Know In Real Life - your friends and family (let's be real. Twitter isn't about them, but sometimes it's nice to be able to view it that way.)
• News - your favorite news programs, anchors, reporters and editors
• Entertainment - your favorite celebrities, musicians, actors, etc.
• Travel - favorite places to stay/visit, travel deals
• Business - people you admire in your industry, your customers, etc.
• Sports - your favorite teams, athletes
• Favorite People on Twitter - this will ensure a good mix and can be your primary viewing choice

Step 5: How and When to View Your Twitter Lists
My current favorite way to view Twitter lists is via Tweetbot on iPhone or Hootsuite on my laptop. They both just have a really simple user interface and allow you to easily toggle between lists. Yes, Twitter allows this too, just not in as few steps and not as clean to view, refresh, follow and add.

Lists for Fun:
Even if you just use Twitter for fun, consider how you might use lists to be more productive... during "The Bachelor" (or insert your fave show), make a list of contestants and your favorite folks to follow and comment on the show (if it's the Bachelor, you should be following @JenniferWeiner @SaraLang @1Chicklette and @Possessionista.) You can also follow the #TheBachelor hashtag during the show to find new funny people to add to your "The Bachelor" list.

Lists for Work
For work, you can make lists around events or key moments. Like, right now, during this government shutdown, I'm hyperfollowing my Political and Reporter lists. (I'd actually love if Twitter's product team would allow you to choose multiple lists to follow at once... but until then, I can watch the two side by side via Hootsuite.) Again, you can follow hashtags like #shutdown or #tcot (conservatives) and #p2 (progressives) to find new interesting folks to add to your lists.

Step 6: Know When to Let Go 
As I progress through my Twitter curation project, I've unfollowed over 2,000 accounts. I started by taking a look at who I follow that doesn't follow me. Just not following me isn't a dealbreaker. Tons of reporters and politicos don't follow me and I still need to know what they are talking about.

Most of what I've unfollowed are dormant accounts, people I've never interacted with, businesses that closed, people I thought had hilarious Twitter names that ended up not really being funny, Twitter memes that lost their relevance, celebrities that are boring or inactive, and a ton of people that I followed in preparation for trips to Australia and Europe that aren't relevant to me in my day-to-day. Some have been shifted to lists.

Step 7: Constantly Curate
All I know is that my Twitter won't remain relavant or interesting to me if I don't do a better job of making it that way. I don't want to turn into a follow curmudgeon. I just want it to be more about me and what I like.

Isn't that the whole point?

NOTE: Just Unfollow works for Twitter and Instagram. There are others where you can curate the folks you follow, such as Social Bro. Got a fave, tell me in the comments or tweet me @tammy. 

[ More posts from the social media files ]

The Best Social Media Customer Service Story (That's Actually Happened to Me)

When we think of customer service, we often think immediately of a complaint and managing the problem. Its like a sporting event with an offense and a defense, yet sometimes you don't know who is who. Airlines get the brunt of the customer service complaints but nothing ever really seems to happen other than apologies (if that). 

My (now) friend Lauren Breuning is the architect of the single best customer service story I've ever personally experienced via social media. I constantly reference "the Bachelor case study" in presentations and decided it was finally time to write it down in case others wanted to learn from it, like I did.

While doing a gala event together at the Four Seasons in 2011, I met Lauren and we collaborated on social media coverage to benefit both of our brands. Towards the end of a long evening, I off-handedly tweeted from my personal account, "Why don't hotels have DVRs? It seems so simple. And I really just want to watch the Bachelor finale when I'm done." (or some such). 

"The Bachelor Finale"

I thought nothing of it and finished the event. When back in my room, I heard an unexpected knock. When I opened the door, the bellman handed me a DVD and said, "Ma'am, I'm sorry we don't have DVRs yet, but we recorded The Bachelor for you on DVD and you'll find a player under your TV. Have a nice evening and let us know if there's anything else we can do to make your stay pleasant." 

You could have knocked me over with a feather. I didn't tag the hotel in the tweet. And, honestly, I didn't expect or want anything. But, I study social customer service best practices for a living, this story is always in the forefront for me. The Four Seasons does it right - and much of that comes from Lauren, their first dedicated social media hire. For my own brand, it makes me think... how can I reach that level... where we're not just tracking our name and responding to complaints, but really going beyond to identify customers (or potential customers) and make them *feel love* towards our brand, our mission.

Since then, other hotels have reached this threshold. There's the Hilton in Birmingham, Alabama that restructured their channel line up so that I could watch Morning Joe. And, the Omni Hotel at CNN Center in Atlanta that noticed another tweet about missing a show (sensing a theme about what I complain about on the road?) and found a bar across the street for me to watch it. 

But, as I travel around speaking about social media and I look ahead at 2014 planning, I always carry this DVD in my bag. It reminds me to think bigger about what's next in social media. It's not about a tweet. It's about brand loyalty, relevance, customer service, message testing, data, marketing, and more. 

What's your best customer service story from social media? Leave it in the comments below or tweet me @tammy so we can all learn together.

You can also follow Lauren at @LaurBreu, or learn from the larger social customer service community on Twitter by following the hashtag, #custserv.

Kim-Cheese Quesadilla, Inspired by Joe Yonan

I picked up Joe Yonan's newest book, Eat Your Vegetables at the Dupont Circle Farmers Market a few weeks ago. There are a ton of creative, interesting ways to cook small portions of vegetables included, but the one that popped out at me most significantly was the Grilled Kim-Cheese.

I first had kimchi at the TaKorean food truck here in DC, and I love the spice and tang. I also love a good grilled cheese. So, brilliant combo.

But, when I returned home after a week of work travel, the fridge wasn't looking good. I had a bag of shredded cheddar cheese. And, I had - in anticipation of trying it (and also on Joe's rec) - secured some Number 1 Sons KimChi-- made right here locally and sold at the Pleasant Pops Farmhouse & Cafe store in Adams Morgan. But, no bread.

Enter, tortillas. And, magic:

Pick up Joe's book and see what you get inspired to make. I think my next one is going to be the Cold, Spicy Ramen - I've already picked up my packages of ramen and am ready to toss the packets and get all DIY. I might never be Toki Underground, but Joe's getting me closer.

Follow Joe Yonan on Twitter at @joeyonan and read him in the Washington Post.