The List App guide: How to get started with addictive list making

Lists are everywhere. You can buy books of lists, you can browse BuzzFeed for your 20 favourite cat GIFs, and, of course, you can browse this fair site for all kinds of list based articles.

Everyone loves a list, right? That’s the mentality behind The List App - a place to make lists and share them in a kind of Tumblr / Twitter format.

Here’s how to get started with it but first, a little warning - it’s an addictive app.

The very start

Signing up is a breeze. Enter a username (right now - you’ve got plenty of choices as the app is new) and password, and you’re almost there. You can hook up Facebook to it too, which is particularly handy if you want to import a profile picture from there.

Don’t forget to add a few details to your profile, so people know who they’re following. I used that time to express my love of burritos.

Make a list!

You can make a list about anything. Seriously. It can be as silly or as mundane as you like, or surprisingly informative or witty.

The List App comes up with some suggestions to get you started like a few facts about you, movies you will always watch if they’re on TV, favorite restaurants, and so forth.

Really though, go nuts. I wrote about disastrous chat up lines.

Check out other lists

The sheer breadth of ideas that people are embracing is amazing. There are silly BuzzFeed style lists but there are also great lists offering trivia about all kinds of things. There’s great advice too, such as how to get a novel published.

Don’t forget to share

Just like with Tumblr or Twitter, you can easily favorite content or relist it so everyone can see. Community spirit is key here with The List App being all the more fun when you’re following like minded people and learning new things.

Look up the recommended users

The List App was conceived by actor, BJ Novak, so he’s pretty active on there and well worth a follow.

Check out places like The New York Times too to glean some useful information about major news stories, all in list format. Even proudly long form content like The New Yorker is on there.