Twitter unveiled yesterday a long-awaited feature called lists. Ever since it was publicly announced, rumors spread about the structure,the use,the format.
I must admit that for me, it was a complete surprise. I was expecting something like tagging, or the already popular user-groups that some Twitter clients already got us used with. Indeed, private lists do somehow mimic this functionality but I’m not talking about them. I am talking about publicly available lists.
Their concept went beyond that of user-groups or tagging and I must admit I’m impressed and amazed how I could miss such an effect myself 
One of the finest things about public lists is that you can use them to figure out what people think about you. Where they placed you*.You know that in the social web almost nothing goes out as one planned.Often things from functionality up to your mere personal brand are distorted by the view of the people up to the point where nothing turns out to be as the creator would expect. Needles to point out samples like Facebook, Digg, even Twitter itself to prove this theory.
The other cool thing about lists is that they reveal a completely new way of connecting within Twitter. Take the lists where Lee is featuredfor example.I know that Lee interested in various topics. I only follow him for one or two. Unlike @Strabuna here I have no marital interest in Lee, I’m just interested in his contribution to the online world. That is why I would check out the lists where he is featured for similar interests. And.. guess what? This reveals users I had no connection with, most of them whom neither Lee had connection with but who are extremely relevant to the topic(s) I follow him for.
Just those two things are brilliant ideas that pop into my mind when I think about lists. What about you guys? I’m sure there’s many of you who, unlike myself don’t see Twitter as a huge graph and did not try to apply Dijkstra inside this micro-blogging universe How do you see lists?
I am planning to use this information somehow in Sobraa but this will be revealed later when the feature rolls out!
