Twitter Lists were launched recently after much anticipation and to huge discussion. After only a few weeks, many Tweeters are logging on each day and finding they have been put on various lists by people they know and even those they don’t. I have been placed on a list called ‘innovators‘ which I was immensely proud of, as well as one called ‘great girls around town‘ which I was also thrilled at. I have also found myself on ’social media’ lists and ‘leweb’ lists (the conference I am attending in Paris in December) which have been nice but not unexpected.
But what happens if you find yourself on a list which you don’t like?
Indeed, a high profile example of this is Christopher Penn who owns a list called ‘morons’, but I am sure he isn’t the only one who has created a less than positive list and placed people on it (although to be fair, at the time of writing, Christopher’s moron list was empty). What can you do if you become an illustrious member of @cspenn/morons and you aren’t too pleased about it?
The answer at this stage is not much.
Lists can only be edited by the person who created them. None of us have the power to remove ourselves from anyone else’s lists so if you do get labelled as a moron, you have only a few options:
- You could contact the list owner directly and ask them why they have added you to that list and whether they would mind removing you from it. I can only imagine that this is going to have mixed results because if you were added to the list in the first place, unless you make the approach in the right way, the list owner will probably just feel justified in making that assessment.
- You can block the person who has made the list. Of course, that means that you will no longer see their updates or be able to have any interaction with them on Twitter, which, depending on who it is, could be a great loss.
- You could go back and check your own Twitter behaviour to see why you might have found yourself on that list and, if it is found wanting, you could make an effort to try and fix it.
- Umm….that’s about it.
I do wonder whether in the future, Twitter may allow you to remove yourself from a public list as I could see this kind of thing causing a few problems. For the majority, this hasn’t been an issue – in fact Lists have created a lot more warm fuzzies than cold pricklies in my experience so far. But could your appearance on a ‘moron’ or equivalent list damage your reputation? Or would it start an argument? I am curious to see – and in the meantime, I hold my breath just a little each time I go to check which lists I have been added to.
Thanks to angelamaphone for the image
Addendum 20/11/09: A workaround I have discovered is that you can block someone (which will remove you from their list) and then unblock them immediately although once they are unblocked there is nothing to stop them re-adding you to the same list from which you want to be removed. This works if you have been put on the list by mistake or the list author isn’t that bothered but it is not an ideal solution. I’ll keep watching and let you know if anything improves.
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Tags: Lists, recommendations
