Why They Call Me "The List Maven"
April 10, 2008 by admin
Filed under About the List Maven, Around the Web
I’m often asked why I use lists in my blogs. I know some consider them linkbait or ways to get more traffic, and that’s not necessarily the case, I just love lists.
Years ago, I’m thinking mid-70’s, my father came home with “The Book of Lists.” I thought it was the coolest book ever and read it often. It contained so much trivia in list form and to me it was fascinating.
I’m still really into lists. If I’m up late enough for Letterman, I usually watch until the nightly Top 10 List and then go to bed. You see, lists get people talking and thinking. They like to argue the items on the list and point out what I missed or what shouldn’t be on the list. A good list will go viral and keep people talking for days.
Let me show you some of the more popular lists I created for other blogs.
- 20 Actors and Actresses Who Turned Down Important or Popular Roles
- 100 Things You Can Make Yourself
- 66 Celebrities Who Blog
- 23 Places to Find Freelance Writing Jobs
- 30 Celebrities Who Didn’t Get the Part
- 30 Celebrities Who Gave their Kids Really Dumb Baby Names
- 40 Famous Kids with Famous Parents
- 25 Things You Never Knew You Could Buy Online
- 25 Celebrities with Insured Body Parts
- 10 $350,000 Homes Across the U.S.
Note in the comments how people debate items or offer their own insight. Lists stimulate intelligent discussion. How can anyone not like that?
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Rachel Segal
Lists definitely are a good way to get a conversation going - I’m familiar with that book. It’s fun!
I love lists as well. I get this from my mother, who has lists piled up all over her house. My husband likes to tease me about it - he’ll sneak a line or two on my lists when I’m not looking. Once I left a “to do” list on the counter…when I came back to it, he had written in “write more lists”. I’m glad I’m not the only one with this obsession…
I’m a big fan of lists. My attention span is about this short –> <–, so short lists are easy for me to follow.
I love lists, too! I like lists of lists, even. Like the commenter above me, sometimes my attention span is just too short for more than a list. Lists are conversation starters, as well as little bits of information to take in when I just don’t have time for in-depth reading.