[jayfuerstenberg]

I think the idea is that competition triggers the incumbent to do better. Like how Google+'s circles finally forced Facebook to better model inter-personal relationships (at the time, only "friend" or "not friend").

Nobody knows what will result here but Twitter has been worsening of late so it's worth a shot IMHO.

[flyt]

Facebook lists existed for at least two years prior to Google+. Nobody used them because nobody wants to meticulously organize their friends into buckets and categorize their communications.