The dirty secret of social media is that as helpful and joyful as it can be, it is a time sink too.

Last year, I took two long breaks from all things digital to be fully offline. But this solstice, I took the quiet in a new direction. As I wrapped up client work, I thought to sharpen my digital tools, and I'd like to tell you about my first, and probably most ambitious, step: rationalizing my Twitter lists.

I don't know about you, but my lists had grown haphazardly, sort of like additions to a New England home. In short, my lists lacked alignment with the "cloud" of people I care to keep in touch with on Twitter.

Level Setting: Twitter List 101

Twitter lists are how you can "parse the cloud" of everyone you've followed on Twitter. It is how you can segment people you share friendships with, future clients, and sources of knowledge from people who have Twitter accounts.

You can have up to 20 lists, and you can choose to make them private or public.

When I add people to my public list of digital agencies, for example, they get a nice alert—and gain visibility, since others can find them via my list.

Software programs and applications also have access to those public lists. I use my digital agency list to fuel a daily roll-up of tweets with links via a service called Paper.li; I call my "publication" the Digital Agency Daily.

Until now, most of my lists have been my secret (i.e., private) filters for watching the cloud of people I pay attention to. Members aren't told when you add them to a list; in fact, you don't have to be following them to keep an eye on them this way. Useful, right?

The Scoop Is Here

OK, here's how I, just one guy, use lists every darn day. Since I tweet about digital business strategy, and that's my work, you'll notice that my arrangement of lists is really driven by what I need to do to connect for business purposes.

1. Focus on relationships and revenue

Focus: These are the people I want to keep connected with for this year's and next year's success. They're active clients, prospects, and people who refer me to opportunities.

Coworkers: The connection to the future and to success is apparent here, too. These are my current coworkers, so what they are up to—and the corporate account that represents our work—influences our livelihood.

Fans: Everyone should have a core group of engaged advocates; and, if you do, having this list lets you be their fan in return.

Friends: These are real-world people I have dinner with, introduce to my kids, or connect with outside of work. No current coworkers are in here, though some former ones are. As it happens, my Facebook friend list matches this list. I've kept Facebook mostly for fun, and old friends and digital marketing only rarely mix.

Contacts: Great people I've met through tweeting, speaking, or otherwise in passing. I want to keep in touch with them, but they are a bigger pool and they can flow into and return from those other relationship groups.

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The Inside Scoop on Using Twitter Lists for Profit and Sanity

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Dave Wieneke is digital strategy lead at ISITE Design and a faculty member in Northeastern University's graduate program for Digital Media. He blogs at UsefulArts. Reach him via Twitter or LinkedIn.