7 Things Not to Do on Twitter

18 Apr 2011 

When Twitter launched, critics questioned the limitation of 140 characters to make a meaningful conversation, especially for businesses. Over the years, Twitter has improved by leaps and bounds, added several business-friendly features and now ranks amongst the league of formidable social media tools for businesses.
Businesses have realized the value of messages limited to 140 characters and have thronged to Twitter in large numbers. As a result of this exponential growth in the Tweetosphere, there's a strong need for a establishing a code of conduct and clearly laying out guidelines on what business should do and what they should not do on Twitter.
Interestingly, a number of social media experts often focus their pep talks on what to do on Twitter. Too bad, they miss out on the important things you shouldn't be doing on Twitter.  Here's my take on the 7 things you should NOT do on Twitter.
1) Excessive Tweeting/ Re-tweets
I find that a number of businesses guilty of Twitter overuse. They tweet way too often to my comfort and to make matters worse, the tweets are repetitive. It's annoying to say the least when I find same tweets in my feed before I go to bed every night and they pop up again when I access Twitter next morning. The idea is to be judicious with how much you tweet and what you tweet.
2) Follow Anyone & Everyone
Twitter works best as a business tool when there's a targeted audience for it. If you follow people simply hoping they would follow you back and increase your follower count, it won't help your business. Make a conscious effort to follow people who'd associate with your business. Also, auto follows may fetch you quantity but it won't get you quality so make sure you weigh your options before you turn it on.
3) Abuse
You need to maintain your dignity on Twitter. If you resort to using foul language or abusive tweets, your business will be kicked where it hurts most. Be mindful of your language and respect others. Your Twitter followers are human beings with real emotions so it's important that you don't end up hurting anyone's sentiments. Tweet others the way you would like to be tweeted!
4) Inaccurate/ Incomplete profile
I never follow Twitter users who have incomplete profiles or provide misleading information on their profiles. Most Twitter users love to be associated with genuine businesses which are transparent about their conduct. Make sure to provide all the relevant information in your profile and refrain from including any inaccurate details.
5) Boasting
While Twitter is a means of promoting your business and its associated products, tweets should not be used as blatant sales pitches to sell yourself. Avoid excessive self praise and self boasting. Adopt a balanced approach.
6) Personal Talk
If you are a business user, refrain from getting into any personal talks on Twitter. Most followers would not be interested in such information anyway so there's no point in overloading them with useless information.
7) Frequency
While it's important that you don't overtweet, it's equally important to make sure that you tweet often enough. It's a fine line but you need to ensure you tweet often enough so that your followers are still interested in being associated with you.

http://smedio.com/2011/04/18/7-things-not-to-do-on-twitter