Watching your Ps and Qs because even Twitter has rules

Recently, we here at NetSphere Strategies reported on the suspension of Guy Adams’ Twitter account. Adams, who published the corporate e-mail address of Gary Zenkel, the president of NBC Olympics, caused a ripple throughout the entire Twitterverse. Whether you were on Adams’ side (Zenkel’s e-mail address is publicly available, after all) or whether you were on Twitter’s side (who stepped in when an individual’s privacy was in jeopardy), the debate opened up the public’s eyes to the idea of Twitter etiquette.

Believe it or not, Twitter has always had rules – even before the Olympics fiasco. And if you’re an avid user, it’s probably wise to know that they exist and, more so, to follow them to a T. No one wants a bad Twitter reputation. And considering Twitter has become a common form of marketing for all types of businesses, it only makes sense to fall in line when the Twitter authority is concerned.

So here are a few rules of thumb, according to Twitter’s help center via the Telegraph:

1. Users must not impersonate others in a manner intended to mislead or deceive others.

2. Tweeters are not allowed to infringe companies’ trademarks by either assuming their name or logo as part of their profile.

3. Members of the service must not publish other people’s private and confidential information – such as credit card numbers or home address – without their express permission.

4. People will be permanently suspended from the site if they perpetually send spam or abuse – which is defined as “specific threats of violence against others”.

5. And tweeters must not infringe copyright rules, use the site for illegal purposes (adhering to the country’s laws from which a person is tweeting) or misuse Twitter verification badges (which denote an account’s authenticity with a blue tick).

6. Twitter users must not use obscene or pornographic images in either their profile picture or user background.

Just like Adams, who was in violation of the third rule listed above, users who don’t stay within the guidelines will be revoked of their Twitter privileges. As it turns out, however, Adams was but a mere one out of a huge group of violators. There are more than 1 billion tweets breaking those rules posted every three days, according to the Telegraph and typically, those “violations are difficult to track and suspensions are still sometimes unpredictable.”

Long story short, your image is on the line – whether it be your business image or your personal image. So give some thought before posting anything, including your profile picture. It’s OK to have fun with your account, but remember that your followers (be it colleagues, friends, family or potential clients) are paying attention. If you bring polite practices and respect to the table, you’ll only get the same in return.