Twitter Lists = People Tags

This week Twitter Lists spread across the Web and early adopters have created lists of the people on Twitter that matter most to them.

It’s very early in the people tagging game with Twitter Lists. But, link this new tool with last weeks news of partnership deals between Google, Bing and Twitter and the new Google Social Search tool and look out on the horizon and you can see where we are going.

Why being tagged in a Twitter list matters?

Twitters deal with major search engines Google and Bing allow the search engines to crawl the content produced on Twitter. The most important element for Google to define the relevance of Content has always been links. Twitter lists will be search engine link gold.

Interestingly, Twitter lists get urls that include the list makers name as well as the name of the list chosen.
ie: http://twitter.com/#/list/toddlucier/travel-canada is a list of Canadian Travel-related Twitter users I created.

A design element that clearly signals a nod to the SEO implications of the designated list pages is that Twitter is automagically puts hyphens into the list names.

Your Followers are Tagging YOU

Interestingly, much like saving Web pages on Delicious.com where the user defines the keyword relevance of the content (not the producer of the content), it is your followers who have the power to define the most relevant tags for you, by putting you and your Twitter identity onto a list.

Get your name on the List

If you want to be recognized as a top member of your tribe on Twitter Lists and benefit from the keyword value that goes along with it, there are a few things you should and shouldn’t do:

1. Focus on producing relevant quality content for your preferred audience.
2. Make lists that feature to top members of your tribe. By curating a great list of the top Twitters in your tribe you will be creating a page that is bound to get some SEO attention to your Twitter account in Twitter-related search.
3. Use keyword tags in your list names. ie: Don’t name a list – “My Twitter Buddies”. Using keywords will get your list more followers and your page more SEO attention.
4. Follow lists of people that are important in your tribe. This will link your Twitter identity to lists of relevant Twitter users. An important side benefit will be the stream of valuable incoming Twitter content.
5. Don’t ask to be included in a list – this doesn’t demonstrate your credibility (just your neediness to be recognized). When the urge strikes to ask to be included, refer to #1 above.
6. Refer others for lists. Check out the new Twitter list curation tool at Listorious makes it easy to suggest top Twitter folk. If the urge strikes to recommend yourself refer to #5 above.
7. Review your Twitter Profile and edit your one line bio to include a better description of the things you tweet about and the tribe/community you serve. Use keywords.

Links:

• Be Picky about Twitter Lists
• How to create a Twitter List (Mashable)