Twitter updates lists as it pushes users toward 'interests'

Well-curated lists can be incredibly useful, but they've always been buried in Twitter's app.

Now the company is putting lists front and center, with an update that lets you pin specific lists you follow to your main timeline. With the change, which Twitter has been testing since July, you can simply swipe left from your main timeline to see tweets from lists you follow. The update is rolling out now to Twitter's iOS app and will be "coming soon" to Android.

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Twitter is also introducing new landing pages for lists (pictured at the top of this article), which provide more information about a given list.

The update is part of Twitter's wide-ranging plan to nudge its users toward following interest-based topics, rather than just specific accounts. The company has long held up lists, which can be publicly shared by any account, as an important way for Twitter users to find interesting conversations they might not normally be exposed to. By making lists available alongside tweets from accounts you already follow, Twitter is both increasing the visibility of these other conversations, and making Twitter feel more personal to each user.

At the same time, lists have also emerged as a pain point for users who deal with harassment on the platform as trolls have been known to share lists in order to make it easier for others to target specific people. Twitter notes that it's also working on reporting features for lists, which it expects to be available by the end of the year.

The company is also working on new discoverability features to make it easier for users to find and share new lists.