Local Resolutions Part 7 of 29

This is the seventh in a series of 29 ways to help your local community online in 2010. If you missed it, you may wish to read the introductory post.

In this post, I suggest that setting up lists on Twitter is a great way to help others from behind the comfort of your keyboard. This series has included recent posts about explaining your position on an issue, making a habit of giving online, and joining the local Freecycle group.

As much as I use and enjoy Twitter, one thing I have yet to do with my personal account is to set up lists. I’m kind of ashamed of that, because not only have I set them up for clients (and used them to help clients identify relevant people to follow), but also because others have been generous and gracious enough to include me in some sixty-five lists, without my doing anything to ask for inclusion.

When I do add lists to my Twitter account, I will start by going through the people who have included me in their lists and returning the favor by categorizing them into my own new lists. If you’re not sure how to start, I think that’s a good way to go.

It takes a lot of work to build a list of people you’re following that you find relevant, informative, helpful, and entertaining. When you create lists, you share the results of that hard work with others. I’m not interested in everyone Ethan Demme is following, for instance. But the fact that he has sorted the people he follows into lists makes it easy for me to bypass the people who simply share his hobbies (beer, photography, motorcycles, cigars) and get right to the people who interest me because they live in Lancaster or are involved in marketing.

How can you help others connect on Twitter by creating lists? Or, if you’ve already created lists, what benefits have you seen come from it?