Image of our twitter list

Twitter, the ever-growing social media bohemoth that allows you to update the world on what you're doing, recently launched a new feature called Lists. Lists allow any Twitter user to create a list of Twitter users. Think of it as giving a person within a directory the ability to a create his or her own sub-directory and share it with the entire directory.

When I see new features like Lists, I always ask, "How can this apply to our clients--great causes--who are always looking for new ways to connect people to their organization's mission?" If you are your organization's social media guru, here are a few ways to consider making use of Twitter Lists.

1. Find Partners and Supporters you may have missed

Before Lists there were already many ways for an organization to find Twitter users interested in a cause, including using search, following hashtags, and tracking mentions. But there's a problem with those methods: sometimes organizations don't follow all the possible hashtags or search all the potential keywords, resulting in some potential cause-joiners to be lost. Twitter lists allow people to determine whether a person is an activist or a philanthropist, rather than relying solely on the keywords that person uses in his or her stream.

2. Better moderate your organization's social reputation

Great causes live and die by their reputation, and keeping tracking of the Lists your organization appears on will help you further gauge your social reputation. First, you'll come to know how people think of you from a categorization perspective. I've seen one non-profit appear on a "humorous tweeters" list because their tweets were always funny, yet meaningful. Of course, you'll want to keep track of the lists you're on that you don't want to be on. "Lying, cheating organizations" is not a List you'd like to appear on, but because of how open Lists are, you may find just that. Protect your organization by staying on top of these and noting why you're being put on certain lists. Doing so will provide yet another method of seeking continual improvement and dialoging with the community.

3. Connect your partners and supporters to spur growth

In the Twittersphere there is a habit of brands and organizations thanking people who interact with them via dedicated posts to their Twitter streams. Thought such recognition is well received by those mentioned, too many such entrants into an org's stream can result in noise that annoys folks, no matter how much they believe in a cause. Twitter lists allow the org to create a "Thanks for X" list and tweet about it once. The folks who appear on the list or not only well recognized but also potentially connected to each other in a more meaningful way.

4. Find out more about potential partner organizations

Similar to the way LinkedIn provides a way to lookup a company and see who works there (which recently passed the 50 million member mark!), many organizations are creating lists of their employees/volunteers. Because of the open nature of Twitter, this "staff directory" list means that once you've found an organization that might be a good partner to your cause, a List might help you find who to direct message to start up a conversation.

5. Bolster your link-building strategy

Yes, it's still very important to get high-quality sites linking to your organization's high-quality site. And Twitter has always been a great way to cultivate the relationships necessary to do so. Lists streamline the process by allowing you to more easily and accurately find prospective bloggers, enthusiasts, and partners for your cause.

If you'd like to get to know lists better, here are three posts that looks at it from different angles: