DISQUS

brendafinkle · 1 month ago

Phil- I have to admit I wasn't tuned in to the whole Twitter List thingy. (don't let Meredith read this I'll get hung for grammer abuse). I was knee deep in communications for opening a new hospital. That's over, popped my head up and saw "lists" on Twitter and was intrigued. Just found a list of "lists to follow" and dog-gone it if I'm now following lists of people I wouldn't have followed before. Happily, I might add.

Why do I care about lists? In order to keep my organization on the "bleeding edge" for the amazingly fast world of social media - I HAD BETTER be tuned in to the conversation before the next greatest is developed or get left behind.

Without the lists we wouldn't know about the incredible people forging our next communication tool. I wouldn't even know who they are. I DON'T have 24 hrs/day to read info online so lists bring the information to me.

Who cares about ego anyway? That seems to be the driving issue I'm reading about - "I'm not on anyone's lists." So? I'm more interested in interacting with new peeps, learning and sharing.

Can't WAIT to find new lists of folks doing really cool things with social media and taking this conversation to a new place.

Thanks for your blog - Brenda

philbaumann · 1 month ago

I appreciate where you're coming from - but a lot of people do care about ego. Maybe not you or me or @Doctor_V, but the fact is human nature is on full display on Twitter.

I agree with you: Lists enable connection and discovery. I"m not against them - I'm simply pointing out their potential, for good or ill.

brendafinkle · 1 month ago

You are so right Phil....nature is on display - egos are at stake - careers being made on the spine of social media. So when someone isn't listed or is ill-used the ripple effect could be devastating.

For the rest of us - we're truly interested in the long-term ramification of social media and ongoing conversations/communication for our hospitals/communities. Ego isn't our game - people's lives are.

I love reading your blog and your tweets - always thought provoking, sometimes irreverent and typically right on the mark. I had not thought about the "ill" use of lists. Glad we have you to keep us pointed to "true north" but cautiously. (ahem, may I point out my recent phishing incident - speaking of naive (me)). I appreciate the heads up more than you know. Keep asking and exploring - you keep us thinking and questioning the norm. Love that about you.

philbaumann · 1 month ago

My pleasure!

And you do know you're a goddess, right? - http://twitter.com/PhilBaumann/goddesses :)

brendafinkle · 1 month ago

ha ha ha, a goddess? Really? I'll go check it out. Thanks, Phil. Glad we can have open, frank discussions on your blog - pro/con/exploring ideas. Very refreshing!!

DrV · 1 month ago

Perhaps I'm missing something. How will Twitter lists 'hurt people'? And what does ego have to do with any of this? We need to spend more time thinking about how we can improve our human signal and less time tipping hats at one another. And I'm with Brenda.

Otherwise a nicely written post.

philbaumann · 1 month ago

@Doctor_V It isn't about ego. I listed 9 uses for Lists and not all referenced ego. Perhaps I wasn't clear enough in making my point that it isn't about ego.

You don't think people are going to use Lists from an ego-perspective? Of course they will and some people will get hurt. We may think that's funny because we have different views on what lists are about, but I stand by my claim.

Also, people can get hurt by being on lists by people who don't have very good intentions. See the post linked to in #8 above.

Oh, btw, you're a Demigod - http://twitter.com/PhilBaumann/demigods :)

edbennett · 1 month ago

Phil,

I like the list feature and have been busy building out a few of my own. There will be an ego issue for some people, but is that much different from being followed (or not)?

I'm more interested in lists created by people I already know and trust. Their judgment on a topic is why I follow them in the first place.

You noted a problem with lists that I hope will be fixed - the ability to "like" or recommend a list in a some structured way. For example, I started a list of doctors. It's got 67 docs on it and is followed by 14 people - nice. But a few days later I found a much better list here: http://bit.ly/3QNtqU

I want to take down my list and just follow the new one, but I'd like some way notify the 14 people who follow me, and recommend the better one.

This stuff will get sorted out, but the bottom line is the same. Quality and reputation will determine what gets followed.

philbaumann · 1 month ago

I agree with you about a Like feature for Lists - that there should be some way to tag a list with metadata. Given the many different lists for the same topic (as your example demonstrates), the aught to be a way to help bring some order about.

I'm sure applications will be built on top, such as Listorious (http://listorious.com/) but eventually Twitter will need to help provide their own mechanisms.

One other thing I didn't point out in my post is Search for Lists: I'd like the ability to search lists. I'm sure we'll see some developed over the API or Google will refine its Social Search to include Twitter Lists.

goldsteinmedia · 1 month ago

Great outline of how Lists work! Good Job Phil