News to me, thanks to Justin Williams, is that you can add people to a list of your own curating without also having to follow them in your main Twitter timeline. Also, if you follow a list that has been curated by someone else it does not automatically add all those people to your main timeline.
For the past few months I have already been experimenting with following certain weblogs via their Twitter account versus RSS, but there are also a few dozen software brands (companies and apps) which I follow so that I can stay aware of any updates or news related to them. Managing your Twitter stream with intentional lists is a great idea. Especially since Tweetbot treats lists so well.
Here are the two lists I’ve curated so far:
By putting these brands and bots into a list it means I can pare down my main timeline — something I am alway eager to do.
The disadvantage (if you could call it that) is that you cannot exchange DMs with people or brands whom you follow only through a Twitter list. But right now the brands and bots I follow through lists are not real people. They’re impersonal and the exist almost exclusively to give one-way updates news.
A side note along these lines: I’m finding it very interesting to see the differences and nuances of Twitter as a news source (by following brands and bots who only give one-way updates) and as a conversation hub (by following friends and strangers whom we dialogue with).