Twitter has now rolled out their new List feature to all users (I think.) If you don’t have the feature available in your account at twitter.com you soon will. Clients, like Tweetdeck, Seesmic and Tweetie, don’t have the feature implemented yet but likely are working on it. We will be adding this to our Twitterface client. This is a very exciting feature!

Some of the benefits of Lists are:

• You don’t have to follow people you have on a list, so brands like Starbucks or Verizon or whoever you need to interact with occasionally, don’t have to take up your main tweet stream… a HUGE benefit.
• Though many clients offer Groups, Twitter itself did not, so all the effort to put people into groups in an individual client did not translate to using another client – it was stored at the system level. Having Lists available via Twitter & the api means your sorted groups will always stay intact, regardless of the software you’re using.
• Lists can be shared and followed by others, so if you see a List you like that someone else created, you can follow it rather than recreate it… the disadvantage right now is that Twitter hasn’t made it so that you can add to, copy, consolidate or alter a List, meaning if you follow a great one and find an applicable user to add to it, you can’t (we will attempt to code around this in Twitterface so that you can.)
• There’s already an awesome directory set up where you can find and follow Lists… check it out at Listorious.com (I love Listorious so much, I’m hoping we can work with their team to integrate adding to the directory from Twitterface.)

Suffice it to say, this is one of the most exciting new features Twitter has implemented yet. In fact, The Next Web is reporting that Google searches indicate over 6.5 MILLION Twitter Lists have been created so far… and that’s with a gradual rollout to limited users the last two weeks in beta mode!

Not convinced of the benefit for you yet? Several users asked me to write about how Lists could help them from a business perspective. Here are some things you might do with this cool feature…

1. Create a list of your clients. I haven’t done this yet but am going to. We like to keep up with our clients tweets because we like them and want to stay in the loop about what they have going on. This is a super-fast way to do that.
2. Create a list of recommended vendors. A lot of folks have Twitter apps or tools Lists, but I decided to create a List of applications that I trust (including competitors to Twitterface) or that I use and would recommend. I don’t put a tool on this list without firsthand knowledge of the people behind it or interaction with them, so my followers or people who find it at Listorious will know it’s not a random smattering of tools, but one that I personally put thought into (if that matters to them.) Another purpose for do this is to help your own clients… if you’re a designer, you might assemble a list of recommended printers your clients can use to help them compare pricing or find special services.
3. List people from an article or book. Shel Israel has a neat list of people that were mentioned in his Twitterville book. This is a nice way to let people instantly follow all the people you’ve mentioned in a blog article (I’ll be creating a Twitter List of the 40 Amazing Female Role Models for Web Designers article I was recently mentioned in, for example.) This is a super way to extend the value of this type of article. (One caveat: you can only have 20 Lists per Twitter account, so you may need to think through this before planning to do a list for every article.)
4. Share your passions. Robert Scoble makes no apologies for his singular interest in tech geeks of all types – programmers, innovators, financiers, etc. His lists are awesome to follow but also worth studying from a strategic standpoint.
5. Stream topics. One of the ways Lists + Twitterface (when implemented) gets very interesting is that you can stream topics for your audience. Say you love a particular car or you share financial information and you have a Twitterface page on that topic. Instead of being limited to searches in your panes as a way to find tweets, you can now create a list of Twitter users (or bot reporters) that talk about those topics 24/7. The topical content you share with others now just increased in value. One thing I will do as soon as Lists is implemented in our product, is add all the pro Tennis players who tweet (there are many) to the 40 Love page. We will eventually have more than 3 panes, for even more real-time content streaming. This takes Lists out of your own personal Twitter experience (using Tweetdeck or whatever client you prefer) and lets you use it to add to your own site or blog content as a value for your visitors.
6. Stream sales and coupons. I don’t do any direct selling via Twitter, but there is the potential to set up Lists (and Twitterface pages) to stream deals constantly. Let me attempt to give an example, though this may not be the best one since I am not an affiliate marketer. We have a page for tweets on cheese with a domain pointed to it at www.cheesetweets.com. If I had affiliate accounts set up with different cheese sellers (there are many online stores that offer affiliate programs) I could make a list of multiple accounts or use a single account on a Twitterface page to stream these deals in addition to seeing random tweets about cheese eating and recipes. This is a non-intrusive way to advertise (no one has to be followed, because you promote and link to your topical page, so you aren’t bothering them with sales tweets they don’t want.)
7. Combine your own Twitter accounts into one List. Users may not want to follow all of your Twitter accounts personally, but might follow a List they can check when they want to. Depending on the content you deliver, it might make sense to combine many of your Twitter accounts into a single List. I’d love it if Whole Foods did this with all their accounts, for example (just because I’m a brand fan who would check it sometimes.) This could be a powerful internal way for employees to stay in the loop and connected also.
8. Create a List for coworkers, team members or contractors. Life flies by fast on Twitter. I continually check the Twitterface page for We Heart Studios and see things I had no idea my team has said. A List will make it much easier to keep up with the people who are a critical part of my business everyday.
9. Find job opportunities faster. If you’re hunting for a job, there are many sources on Twitter that do nothing but list jobs. Combine all of these into a List and focus your attention on just those postings to save time and prevent missing a great opportunity.
10. Assemble a list of referrals. I am definitely going to do this. When a new client or opportunity presents itself, have a handy list of people that are willing to be contacted for a referral source (ask them first.) This will be super-convenient for folks who do business on Twitter like I do.
11. Create a list of people you’ve met. LightThread CEO Simon Kuo created a neat list for himself of people he’s now met in person. If you’ve attended an awesome conference recently and want to remember all the folks you’ve met, you might create a list like Like Minds did for their Like Minds Alumni. Many lists exist for local friends or people in your area. (I’m on several for the Kansas City area.)
12. Define people by what they love. I will be creating a list of Nutella addicts. Why? Just because I can. And because there are LOTS of them! The trick will be seeing what we can do in Twitterface with the api’s so that I can someday take that list of Nutella freaks and isolate only their Nutella tweets. (Yum, in every way!!)

Now… there are some people who will be petty and complain that they want to be on more lists. Okay, probably that is just me. LOL! But seriously, we should not necessarily view lists as some indicator of influence or popularity or lack thereof… they are meant to be used for your needs as a Twitter user and not the new “Twitter follower scheme” opportunity. Sadly, I have already seen one tweet advertising a pyramid scheme to get you on more lists. This is not the best use of your time. Be interesting – show your unique personality and personal quirks – make lists that truly mean something to you and followers you care about and let the list mania chips fall where they may.

Here are some more articles to help you understand the fine details about Twitter Lists. My #1 request of Twitter would be that they add “consolidation” and allow you to rename a list as your own so you can continue to add people to it that appeal to you. There may be reasons they wouldn’t like that idea, but that’s the main interactivity complaint I have so far.

>> Twitter Lists are Live! (Mashable)

>> Scobleizer on Lists: Limitations, Bugs, Impact & Brilliance

>> Alex’s Footnote to Scobleizer’s Post

>> Twitter Expands Lists Beta. A Great New Feature

Questions, comments or more suggestions about how to use Lists, please leave them in the comments and let’s discuss. I’m loving this new feature – I was on the beta from the beginning, and can’t wait for everyone to catch up and begin creating their own unique lists.