Quick guide to Twitter Lists

Twitter Lists has now come to the masses and with it a host of new questions on what they do, how you can benefit from them, and more importantly how they work.

Let Pocket-lint guide you through the new features whether it's creating, managing, deleting or just following them. Here is our quick guide to the new offering.

What are Lists

Twitter Lists are basically a list of users grouped around a central theme. They could be people that work for Pocket-lint, they could be a group of actors, or maybe people in your local bowling club. The idea is that you can then follow the list and get all the messages of the people on the list filtering out the noise of twitter.

Creating a Twitter List

Simple. Login to your Twitter account and if you have Lists enabled then you'll see a new Lists element in your right hand nav column. Click on New List and a pop-up window appears.

Here you get to name your list and choose whether or not you make that list Public or Private.

Now you've got to populate your list with Twitter folk. You'll be able to search the twittersphere for people to follow or add them from your following page or anyone's profile page.

Once you've found who you were looking for you can then add them to the relevant list and your done.

Editing your Twitter List

So you've started a list, bully for you, but what if you want to add more people to it? Easy, you can edit your list by clicking on the "Edit List" button on the list page. The button isn't in the nav bar - that would be too easy - instead it can be found at the top right of the page. However, not that the Edit List button is any help, all it will do is let you change the name of your list and opt to make it Public or Private.

Editing other people's Twitter List

Blocking a Twitter user will remove you from inclusion on any lists the blocked person has created. Handy in the fight against spammers or people that have created a "These people suck" list.

Adding more people to your Twitter List

That's easy to, all you have to do is find them and then click on the list icon that appears next to their name. A drop down appears and you just check the box next to the list that you want them to appear in.

Removing people from your Twitter List

Yeah we all hate to admit it but people can get boring after a while. Luckily you can remove people just as quickly as you can add them. It's the same icon and drop down menu. All you've got to do is bring yourself to uncheck the box.

Deleting a Twitter List

So you've created a list of your local club and then promptly left the club. Luckily you can delete the list you've created. Found in the same location as the edit list button you can hit the delete link. Twitter will fire up a "Are you sure" message at which point you say yes and then it's gone. There is no going back.

Viewing your Twitter Lists

With the ability to create an almost infinite number of lists you get a dedicated page to see what lists you've created and more interestingly what lists you feature on. If people have added you to a private list you won't see it. To get to this page type

twitter.com/username/lists and twitter.com/username/lists/memberships

Following a Twitter List

Following a list is easy, find the list you want to follow and then click on the "Follow this list" icon at the top of the stream.

• Comment on this story for your chance to win a TomTom XL Live IQ Routes Europe

Latest in Software

• REVIEW Google Chrome OS - First Look
• NEWS Sony Online Service iTunes rival announced
• NEWS Ballmer says Windows 7 is "simply the best"
• NEWS Daily Tech Deal: Quidco offers cashback on BT Total Broadband
• NEWS iGoogle adds food themes

Latest on Pocket-lint.com

• REVIEW Google Chrome OS - First Look
• NEWS Casio G'zOne Rock phone plays it tough
• NEWS Seesmic BlackBerry and Android apps released
• NEWS Picture in Picture TV goes into overdrive, 64 picture overdrive
• NEWS Sony: "PS3 Blu-ray built in for free"