Making a list
Twitter has added three significant features in the past few days but the one that seems to be getting the most attention is Twitter Lists. Lists initially drew some skepticism (the desktop clients have had similar functionality for awhile) but several bloggers soon found reasons to get excited over the new feature. Conversation Agent wrote about Twitter 'evolving from simple chatter to themed content distribution' and listed examples of big media providers using the lists. Duct Tape Marketing created a list of its own with five easily overlooked features that create an ease of use and will make lists an important feature for social marketers. Rotorblog's list was of nine reasons why the lists are key to achieving social networking goals. Perhaps the clearest sign of success for Twitter lists is the beginning of an ecosystem. Listiti has already launched with a service that alerts you via email when certain keywords appear in your Twitter lists.
The long awaited 'Project Retweet' also rolled out this week but found the going a bit tougher. Users are not able to add a comment with their Retweets and only the first instance of a Retweet is displayed. Twittercism offered a detailed look and Twitter founder Evan Williams reacted to criticism in a rare post on his personal blog.
Twitter and LinkedIn announced plans to integrate status updates in a move that many felt affirmed Twitter's dominance in real-time feeds. The blog Online Social Networking made the case with ten takeaways showing that the integration will have practical implications for social marketers.
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