You may have heard that Twitter has recently added a Lists feature, rolled out in beta format to an unknown-but-limited number of users. As proof of how arbitrary the selection process must have been, I was one of those users. I’ve been building Lists ever since.

I oh-so-quickly discovered two things:

1. that, as you create them, your Lists stack in immutably reverse-chronological order — like Followers, or tweets themselves; and
2. that we’re each only allowed to build a maximum of 20 Lists.

(Others, who were filling their Lists even faster than I was, realized that each List also has its own maximum: 500 names.)

If you’re one of those who has the feature now, you can see my Lists here: http://twitter.com/kitson/lists

Last night, the company announced it had expanded the rollout, reaching 5 percent of the user base, with plans to expand further. (Our @destinationCRM channel was among those gaining access during this latest wave — our @CRM channel is still waiting. Let us know in the Comments below what kinds of channels you’d like us to curate.)

I decided to conduct a random sampling of some popular twitterers, to see who had been added to the most Lists thus far.

Think you can guess the Top 20? The list (with figures current as of 12 noon ET and 11.59pET) is after the jump.

Top 20** — or, now, Top 27 — twitterers, in descending order of the number of Lists on which they appear. (The first number was the List count (and ranking) as of 12pET Friday, October 23; the second number is the List count as of 11.59pET. (Several twitterers now in the list were overlooked earlier.)

…….Twitterer…………#of Lists (rank)….# of Lists…………# of Lists
………………………….12pET 10/24/09 …. 11.59pET……..[3rd Update to come soon]

1. @mashable …………668 (1) —— 762 (1) —————
2. @BarackObama ……470 (3) —— 599 (2) ————–
3. @Twitter …………….478 (2) —— 543 (3) ————–
4. @cnnbrk …………….434 (6) —— 530 (4) ————–
5. @google ……………..438 (5) —— 518 (5) ————–
6. @TechCrunch……….418 (7) —— 466 (6) ————–
7. @scobleizer ………….415 (4) —— 453 (7) ————–
8. @stephenfry …………374 (8) —— 435 (8) ————–
9. @TheEllenShow ……289 (13) —– 388 (9) ————-
10. @aplusk ………………310 (11) —– 386 (10) ————
11. @GuyKawasaki ……..331 (9) —— 373 (11) ————
12. @wilw ……………….328 (10) —— 372 (12) ————
13. @johncmayer ………287 (14) —— 369 (13) ————
14. @kevinrose ………..329 (12) ——- 368 (14) ————
15. TheOnion ………………XXX ——- 368 (14-tie) ——–
16. FeliciaDay ……………. XXX ——- 327 (16) ————
17. @NYTimes …………249 (18) —— 313 (17) ————
18. @chrisbrogan ……..281 (15) —— 312 (18) ————
19. RainnWilson …………..XXX —— 307 (19) ————
20. @timoreilly …………262 (16) —— 298 (20) ———–
21. @BreakingNews …..259 (17) —— 295 (21) ————
22. JimmyFallon ………….XXX —— 291 (22) ————
23. @oprah ……………224 (19) —— 280 (23) ————
24. @Alyssa_Milano…224 (20) —– 280 (23-tie) ——–
25. LanceArmstrong …….XXX —— 276 (25) ————
26. ThatKevinSmith ………XXX —– 264 (26) ————
27. THE_REAL_SHAQ ….XXX —– 262 (27) ————

** I should note that this is highly unscientific and massively anecdotal — I simply checked the Twitter pages of (what I consider to be) the usual suspects, along with the top 50 twitterers on WeFollow.org based on number of Followers. Please feel free to note anyone I inadvertently missed.

Some other thoughts on Twitter Lists:

• Twitter’s original blogpost (9/30/09) about the rollout: Twitter Blog: Soon to Launch: Lists
• TechCrunch (10/15/09) on the Lists rollout: – Breaking: Twitter Begins Lists Rollout
• Mashable (10/15/09) on the Lists rollout: – Twitter Lists Are Live! [Update: Only for a Few People]
• Dave Winer (10/15/09) on #Lists: Twitter’s lists (Scripting News)
• Lifehacker (10/16/09): Twitter Lists Makes Following Easier and Organized
• SocializedPR blog (10/22/09): Twitter Lists Are Life Changing, Threaten Yammer & Others
• Social Media B2B blog (10/20/09): Leveraging Twitter Lists For B2B Success

kitson: Here’s @scobleizer’s take on #Lists: #Twitter Lists; Limitations, bugs, impact, and brilliance http://sn.im/lists1018

kitson: “ #FollowFriday is dead,” says @scobleizer. “Lists are FAR superior.” I disagree. #ff is still a push, #Lists are passive. They can coexist.

Scobleizer: @kitson lists are push too. I can’t push them at you yet but when the feature turns on you better believe I will.

kitson: @Scobleizer Fair enough – but then it’s not #Lists anymore; it’s just another form of #FollowFriday w/groups in place of individuals.
Already suggested to @ev that they create an “L” command like “D” to allow msgs to be directed to a #Lists group.

kitson: For folks waking up to discover they have #Lists: 8 Things to Consider Before Using Twitter Listshttp://sn.im/lists1019 [TwiTips]

kitson: For those w/ #Lists: My @NewYorker List of staffers, blogs, contribs + ‘toonists http://sn.im/list-tny + for @NYTimes http://sn.im/lists-nyt

.

@fredwilson: is “listed” the new “followers”? and does listed tend to have high correlation with # of followers? can @RJMetrics help answer this?

@jeffjarvis: 0r is it the new blogroll: recommendations? RT @fredwilson: is “listed” the new “followers”?
Or maybe in addition to individual lists, we need shared tags, a la Flickr; we collectively compile lists of “funny” tweeters
Also wonder whether lists will fall the way of blogrolls: hard to maintain; ghosts. Need emergent systems, eg tagging tweeters

.

[The following should be read in reverse chronological order, from the bottom up]

• Already seeing redundant efforts w/ #Lists-makers. Unless I agree w/another curator’s List, I need to build my own from scratch. Fri Oct 16 04:40
• I know #Lists can include someone I *don’t* follow. Wonder if I can “weed” someone else’s List by blocking one of the listed? Fri Oct 16 04:36
• Or a Library of popular #Lists, not unlike categories set up by @WeFollow or @MuckRack (again, ideally ones I could then edit). Fri Oct 16 04:33
• Or form a List of #Lists, to blend, say, @techcrunch’s staff list + @mashable’s staff list to add to my own list of @rww staffers. Fri Oct 16 04:31
• Would also be great if I could “adopt” a copy of existing #Lists as my own, and then edit them, like a kernel. Fri Oct 16 04:29
• Hm. When I try to access a working #Lists URL via mobile browser (a Treo), I land on a login pg instead. 1 that never logs me in. Fri Oct 16 04:24
• Like Twitter itself. RT @Scobleizer Going to take months for #Lists to get to full potential. Barely even gotten through .01% of adding ppl. Fri Oct 16 04:06
• Would love a new function for these #Lists: The ability to start a tweet with L [List Name] and have it only go to those people. Fri Oct 16 04:00
• Must. Step. Away. From. The. List-making. #Lists Fri Oct 16 01:07
• And @mashable’s own curated list: http://sn.im/list-mashable #Lists Fri Oct 16 01:07
• And, for the @rww fans in the house, a Read Write Web entry for #Lists: http://sn.im/list-rww @jolieodell @marshallk #scrm Fri Oct 16 01:05
• Here’s @TechCrunch’s staff http://sn.im/list-tc @TechCrunch/team #Lists Fri Oct 16 00:49
• Better metric (well, for those who care)? # of people following a List you create. @RobertatGist @adamloving @robinwauters #Lists Fri Oct 16 00:35
• Yup. RT @RobertatGist @adamloving: “the count of lists ppl are on is gonna quickly overtake follower count in terms of importance” Fri Oct 16 00:32
• Created a Twitter #List for #scrm: http://sn.im/list-scrm #socialmedia #crm Fri Oct 16 00:12:30 +0000 2009
• Careful when creating #Lists, kids. They stack in reverse chronological order, so the 1st one you create ends up at the bottom. =( Fri Oct 16 00:05
• I’ll start linking to my lists: The New Yorker (writers + staffers + cartoonists + blogs) http://sn.im/list-tny Fri Oct 16 00:0:26 +0000 2009
• RT @dannysullivan ah! take that back. @twitter added “edit list name” feature! go to #Lists page, choose Edit Thu Oct 15 23:25
• #Lists are easier to create than you think: just go to your Following page and see the interface. http://twitpic.com/lo12r Thu Oct 15 23:15
• Nice touch, Twitter Lists: I can add an account to a list *without* following it first. #lists Thu Oct 15 23:10
• Oops. Just read my own Beta announcement:”You’re part of a small group receiving this feature, so don’t tweet about it yet!” Sorry, Twitter. Thu Oct 15 22:56
• The Twitter Lists beta announcement: http://twitpic.com/lnyda Thu Oct 15 22:54