Q. Not sure if I've grasped the whole Twitter scene yet, but I've been giving it the old college try. I'm following people, and there are some people who think I'm actually interesting enough to follow. What I would like is some clarity on the List feature. Nathan G.

A. I have to admit, Nathan, Twitter can be fun and baffling at the same time. There are some staunch Tweeters who are, in my opinion, ready for some serious Twitter time-out, and then there are those who won't waste their time posting Tweets. I'm somewhere in-between - and I have a feeling that there are others, like me, who are not quite convinced that Twitter is the right venue for their business.

Twitter's growth has slowed significantly over the past few months. In February 2008 Twitter had 475,000 members and by February 2009 Twitter had 7,038,000 members - that's a 1,382 percent growth spurt. Then in March of 2009 Twitter grew by 13 percent but slowed to 3.5 percent in October (stats from Nielsenwire.com). Not only has their growth slowed, but Twitter's traffic also began declining.

In efforts to re-gain users, Twitter added the List feature. As many of you already know, keeping track of those you follow is not the easiest of tasks. You can think of Lists as something similar to Facebook's Group feature. Lists are a way for followers to organize the people they are following and also find new people to follow. By using Lists, you are able to cluster together people who have specific interests similar to yours.

Just because you are on a List doesn't mean you are following all the people on that list. In fact, you are only following the List. This means that you can follow people without actually having to follow them in your mainstream Twitter list. For example, there may be a person on a List whose tweets you'd like to follow but you don't want in your main Twitter stream. Following them via a List allows you to view their tweets without having to actually follow them. Did that make sense?

Creating a List is pretty simple. There are two ways to this:

When you are logged into Twitter you will see "Lists" right below the search box on the right side of your screen. Click on the "New List" link and provide a name for your list and decide whether it will be public or private. A public List can be seen by anyone and anyone can follow the List. Private Lists are viewable only by the creator. Not even those on the List can follow it. You could add your competitors to a private List and keep an eye on them without them being any the wiser.

Create a list from anyone's page. Click the List icon drop-down box and click "Create List". As in the first example, decide on a list name and its privacy option.

Remember to add yourself to your own Lists by visiting your own profile page. When you follow a List, it will show up in the "Lists" section of your page, and next to the "Following" and "Followers" links. Find Lists to follow by visiting the profile page of anyone on Twitter. You'll see their list of Lists, choose one and join.

Your Lists can be deleted and if someone puts you on a list you don't want to be on, you can block its creator. Beware though, if you block a list you don't want to be on it means that that person can no longer follow you.

Nathan, I hope this brings some clarity to Twitter lists.

Success,

Eydie

Eydie Stumpf is a virtual assistant based in Corona who specializes in creating an Internet presence for business owners using social media and e-mail marketing platforms. Visit her website at www.eydiesoffice.com and send her questions via askme@eydiesoffice.com.