Local Resolutions Part 22 of 29

This is the twenty-second 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 publishing lists online is a great way to help strengthen your community while you’re online. This series has included recent posts about leaving comments on local blogs, reviewing local restaurants and service providers, and shopping local on Etsy.

This post may seem lame.

And yes, while the idea is so obvious as to be banal and the time it takes to say it is brief, it’s also powerful.

Make a list

If you read yesterday’s post, you saw that I ended it with a list of locally-oriented blogs that I recommend. I did the same thing when I wrote earlier in this series about becoming a fan of local Facebook pages.

Those posts got attention and comments. When you’re introducing an idea to others, it’s helpful to break it down, to give examples, and to suggest where to start. The list, that amazing little invention of formatting, is perfectly suited for such tasks.

I’ll also share that the list of Lancaster Twitter users on this site is the most popular piece of content on here. It continues to receive views every day, even when it’s been too long since I’ve updated it (like right now).

There are all kinds of lists

Lists of local things are great ways of giving a shoutout to places and people you like, and they also provide quick value to others in your community.

So today’s resolution for making our local community better through online activities is to write and share lists this year.

You can make a list of nearly anything, in a few styles, including:

Rankings – List, in order, your top ten local beers, sushi restaurants, parks, doctors, art galleries.

Comprehensive – Attempt to create an annotated list of everything. To keep it up-to-date and authoritative, ask others to let you know of additions and corrections.

Examples – Most of the time, it’s ridiculous to expect yourself to have the time to create a comprehensive list, or even to rank items. A simple list of a few examples is still helpful. You can spotlight the ones you missed another time (and, I’ve learned, it’s also best to encourage people to add to the list by leaving a comment).

What comes to mind when you think of a list of things you’d like to share? Where do you already create lists? On Twitter? On your blog? On Amazon?