After selling VirtualTourist to Expedia, J.R. Johnson launched Lunch to encourage intelligent content and critical dialogue. Today, in expanding his mission for meaningful engagement, Johnson is launching Twitter Lists. This new service asks users to rationalize their Twitter recommendations. While services like Twubble, Mr. Tweet, Chirpio and even Twitter itself offer suggested accounts, Lunch is the only site that also requires a good explanation.
When ReadWriteWeb covered Lunch’s launch in late March, we noted that it “wasn’t just another drive-by review site.” Similar to dating site OK Cupid, users rate a series of items and the Lunch “similarity network” matches them with like-minded members. Instead of gaining potential mates, we get the most relevant lists and recommendations on the topics that interest us most.
Twitter Lists take the recommendations even further. In the past, individuals have recommended Twitter users directly from their accounts with the hashtag “#followfriday.” However, as the Twitter ritual gains popularity, spammers and phishers have begun infiltrating the site and reducing the reliability of recommendations.
Johnson describes Twitter Lists as a “smart follow friday.” Rather than offering instant gratification, the service actually increases the time users spend suggesting new Twitter feeds by forcing them to write earnest justifications. Members suggest their list of up to 35 recommendations and then retweet the list in a bit.ly URL. From here, your list appears in the Lunch community, and you can choose to alert those you’ve followed via an @ message. Fellow bee keepers, science fiction fans and movie buffs gain from both the information in regular Lunch lists as well as the real-time feed from these new Twitter Lists.
Power Twitter user and author Tara Hunt has already created her Lunch Twitter List. After taking her book tour on a karaoke road trip, Hunt created a “Best Follows for Karaoke Lovers” list, complete with funny anecdotes. To check out all of Tara’s Twitter and Lunch lists, visit her Lunch Page, or if you’d like to build your own list, register at Lunch.com.
