B.J. Novak: actor, comedian, author, screenwriter, list maker, list app maker.
Novak has starred in the American version of “The Office,” written a few episodes of the show in addition to a couple books and, now, launched an iOS app. Developed with a friend, Novak is out today with The List App.
The List App is less a to-do list app and more of a social network centered around lists. Why lists? I’ll let The List App FAQ page explain:
First and foremost, we just love lists. They’re the best. We saw a unique opportunity to create a social network built around the simplicity and power of lists. Human beings are innately inclined towards structuring information; it’s one of our primary means of understanding. Lists are simple, powerful; the gold standard of sorting and sharing information for thousands of years.
You’ll need to create an account with an email address to begin using The List App. After creating an account, the app offers to find friends from Facebook, Twitter and your contacts for you to follow. Don’t worry if you are the first of your friends to try out The List App; the app has dozens of recommendations for you. You’ll find lists from the likes of Mindy Kaling and Jim Gaffigan to Nerdist and Vanity Fair.
The main page of The List App is a feed of lists of those whom you follow. You can comment on, favorite, save and relist lists in your feed.
When you create a list, you’ll find much more room to operate than with Twitter and its 140-character limit. Lists can contain up to 99 items, and each item can have a 350-character header. And each header can then have a 500-word description. So, lists can run long. You can also add photos and locations to your lists. And you can created numbered and bulleted lists.
By default, your lists and activities on the app are public and visible to everyone on The List App, but in account settings you can adjust privacy controls so that only your followers can see what you are up to.
The List App is available only for iPhone at the moment but will expand to other platforms, according to the The List App FAQ page.
Not mentioned in the FAQ but thankfully addressed on Twitter, The List App is fully compatible with Wuphf.