How to Create, Use and Manage Twitter Lists in Hootsuite

If you feel like using Twitter is like diving into the deep end of a pool to find a pea on the bottom, you’re probably not making use of one of Twitter’s best, and most useful features: Twitter Lists. There is a myriad of ways you can leverage Twitter lists for your business. Think about lists of customers, competitors, industry news, movers and shakers, and people you just like to follow. With a Twitter list you can keep all your tweeps organized and read more of what you like to read on Twitter. If you want to take it to the next level, you’ll want to pull all of your Twitter lists into a dashboard such as Hootsuite. Putting your Twitter list in Hootsuite helps you remember all the lists you’ve created, and puts them all right in front of you every time you log in so that you never forget to check them.

Create a new Twitter list in Hootsuite

If you’ve never created a list in Twitter before, you can do it right from your Hootsuite dashboard. Once it’s created and you’ve added people to the list, it will also be available to you when you log in to Twitter. However, if you’ve created lists in Twitter, you will have to import them to Hootsuite following this same procedure.

1. Click on “Add Stream” just above your current columns.
2. In the new window that pops up, select Twitter and Lists.
3. In the drop-down menu, select your Twitter profile.
4. If you have existing lists on Twitter, they will appear in the next box below your selected Twitter profile. Choosing one of the existing lists will import it into your Hootsuite dashboard as a new stream/column.
5. If you don’t have pre-existing lists on Twitter, choose “Create a New List”.
6. Give the list a name.
7. Add a description if you like, this is optional, but useful for lists you will share or if you create many similarly-named lists.
8. Choose whether the list will be public or private.
9. Click Add Stream.

Your new list will be added as a stream/column to the far right on the tab you were currently viewing. If you don’t see it on the right, you probably need to scroll to the right. Most screens will only show four columns at once.

Adding People to a Twitter List in Hootsuite

Now that you’ve created a Twitter list in Hootsuite, you’ll need to add some accounts to it, or it will sit there empty and that won’t do you much good! There are two ways to add people to your new Twitter list.

From their Profile

For accounts that are new to you, or you find in searches or in retweets from others, you can add them to a list from the menu on their Twitter profile, in Hootsuite.

1. Click on the account name you wish to add to a list. Their Twitter profile information will pop up in a new window.
2. At the bottom of this new window, you will find a button to “Add to List”.
3. Click Add to List and select the list they are being added to. VOILA!

From the Twitter List Stream

A recent change to Hootsuite saw the Contacts tab removed completely (I was surprised to find that when I was writing this blog!) So the new way to add someone to a Twitter List in Hootsuite is from the stream/column preferences.

1. Click on the stream/column from which you need to remove someone.
2. Click on the three dots in the top right corner of THAT column. Make sure it’s the three dots on the correct column.
3. Choose Preferences.
4. Add the Twitter handle in the window and click Add.

Deleting People from a Twitter List in Hootsuite

Some lists you will want to clean up and change out as time goes by. I regularly clean out my Favourites list and add new ones to it.

1. Click on the stream/column from which you need to remove someone.
2. Click on the three dots in the top right corner of THAT column. Make sure it’s the three dots on the correct column.
3. Choose Preferences.
4. Scroll through the list of accounts until you find the one you want to remove. When you find them, click on the red X to the right of their name to remove them.