Today @Technical_ly published our newest annual ~RealLIST~, curated lists of people we understand to shape the communities we report on.

These are the RealLIST Connectors; let me share why it's more than just some _list_ https://technical.ly/series/reallist/

I've seen inside dozens of newsrooms and many other content shops. ~Lists~ can be dismissed because some of them have no rigor. Some are random collections.

But when done with intention, lists are effective, valuable and powerful. That's what we're aiming for with our RealLISTs

It's hard to appreciate how much more valuable a newsroom gets when its institutional memory extends. (That's the crucial value newspapers do maintain)

We need local newsrooms with new models slowly grinding away at building beat knowledge, insight and longevity

Ask any beat reporter: by 1-2 years, you can start to get a feel for the beat. In the 3-5 years, you can start doing real work.

The magic often ~starts~ happening when you've known a beat for 5 or more years. (Obvs many go back far deeper!)

Society isn't always great at understanding this. Fortunately for hundreds of years, we didn't have to.

But everyday, informed beat reporters make connections, spot trends and decide through patterns, research and endless interviewing on narrow topics. That's called mastery

Our newsroom has different reporters (and markets) of different time-on-beat so we get to see this in action, of why some acts are easier than others when someone's been lucky enough to be on a beat long enough.

It's heady powerful stuff to see a beat reporter come into a groove

But across all our markets, our RealLISTs are no slapdash matter.

Our RealLIST Connectors are the amalgamation of years of conversations and connections. A mix of nominations and curation, they are the inside of a beat

And it's so much harder than the finished product will ever look like!

Because you can publish a list of 100 people at random. It's harder to explain what comes with patience and time

So I'll say this, @juliezeglen @stephenbabcock @harlequinn823 @By_paigegross @OhMichGee pulled together nominations, their beat reporting, years of archives, dozens of recommendations and more and put together an inaugural list of what our beat looks like from our vantage point

I think we've done something really important and ~scary~ for beat reporters: we laid our cards on the table and said 'there this is how we see this community we report on'

Other newsrooms do this sorta thing and I think it's important: who connects the center of your community?

In @TechnicallyDC @OhMichGee led a look at 70 connectors in tech, entrepreneurship and innovation in DC https://twitter.com/TechnicallyDC/status/1266086255101652998

In @technicallyDE @harlequinn823 introduces you to 75 people who most intersect Delaware's innovation ecosystem https://twitter.com/technicallyDE/status/1266126881725853703