Facebook Lists

Whenever I mention Facebook lists people look at me with that what-is-he-talking-about? frown.  Some suggest I mean Twitter lists.  I don't.  I mean Facebook lists.  Facebook lists are a powerful tool, but they are apparently little used.

This is important because the ability to send comments to a limited list is what separates
Facebook from Twitter.  It means Twitter is about broadcasting and Facebook is about narrowcasting.

On Twitter everything you tweet goes to everyone following you.  Broadcasting.

On Facebook you can send comments to everyone.  But you can also segment your friends into lists and send specific messages to specific lists.  Narrowcasting.

Once you've made a list you can share a comment, or any item, with only that list.   No one else will see it.  You can share something with one list, or many lists.  Or you can share something with everyone but exclude one list.

Say one of my Facebook lists is for gardeners.  I send my latest thoughts on the intricacies vegetable production just to that list, knowing that others won't be interested.

This is a powerful tool that reflects our real lives.  We don't go around saying everything to everyone.  We say the right things to the right people.

Using lists in Facebook you can have a thought about your job and just send it to your "Business" list.  It's aunt Sally's birthday: just send it to the "Family" list.

(Parents take note: if you think you're monitoring your kids' activity in Facebook by having a Facebook account, you're wrong.  Your kids are smart enough to make a list that doesn't have your name on it to use when they're writing something they think you might not approve of.)

Lists are useful for reading too.  (This is the same function Twitter has in its lists.)  When you click your carefully generated "Family" list in your main navigation you see a newsfeed made up of comments just from those family members you put on the list.

So if you don't have a lot of time for Facebook today, you can quickly narrow what you're reading down to just the lists of people you really want to read about.

If you didn't put all your friends into neat lists when you first accepted their friend requests, or if you want to do some list building or list weeding, the quickest way to edit your friends and lists is to go to Accounts > Edit Friends, and then click All Connections on the Edit Friends page.

That gives you all your friends, and you can run through them in a quiet moment and do some list management.

The ability to narrowcast is what makes Facebook different, at least for now.  So don't miss out.

More information about Facebook lists:
- Facebook FAQ: What are Friend Lists, and how do I create them?
- Mashable: HOW TO: Create Friend Lists on Facebook