Twitter Rules to Abide and Question

In the previous article, Linda introduced Twitter to designers, including some tools to use and some basic rules that you might follow for Twitter success. In this article, she will take you into the realm of Twitter Rule Meisters, or people who insist that you follow their rules. She offers some alternatives that, outside of Twitter's official rules, actually bring total freedom to your Twitter use.

More Twitter Rules

In the previous article, I mentioned some Twitter rules that were written by Twitter; however I did not cover all bases. You'll need to rely on these rules as you go along:

Impersonation: Don't impersonate someone to mislead or confuse others. In other words, if you have an account – even anonymous – don't use it to dupe others.

Privacy: You cannot publish or post other people's private and confidential information without their express authorization and permission (even then, I wouldn't do it – you don't know what will come back to bite you).

Violence and Threats: None allowed.

Copyright: Visit Twitter's Terms of Service (TOS) to learn more.

Unlawful Use: You cannot use Twitter for unlawful purposes or for promotion of illegal activities.

Verified accounts: You may not use the Verified Account badge unless it is provided by Twitter. Accounts using the badge as part of profile pictures, background images, or in any way implying false verification will be permanently suspended. This badge will help – in the beginning – to verify well-known artists, athletes, actors, public officials, and public agencies.

Serial Accounts: You may not create serial accounts for disruptive or abusive purposes. Mass account creation will result in suspension off all accounts.

Name Squatting: Accounts that are inactive for more than 6 months may be removed without further notice. Some of the factors that Twitter takes into account when determining what conduct is considered to be name squatting are:

·         the number of accounts created

·         creating accounts for the purpose of preventing others from using those account names

·         creating accounts for the purpose of selling those accounts

·         using feeds of third-party content to update and maintain accounts under the names of those third parties

Selling user names: Unless you have been specifically permitted to do so in a separate agreement with Twitter, you agree that you will not reproduce, duplicate, copy, sell, trade or resell your use of Twitter's products, services and web sites (referred to collectively as the "Services") is subject to the terms of a legal agreement between you and Twitter.

Malware/Phishing: You may not publish or link to malicious content intended to damage or disrupt another user's browser or computer or to compromise a user's privacy.

Spam: You may not use the Twitter service for the purpose of spamming anyone. What constitutes "spamming" will evolve as Twitter responds to new tricks and tactics used by spammers. Read about some of the factors they take into consideration now. I'll bring a few of these items up in a moment.

Pornography: You may not use obscene or pornographic images in either your profile picture or user background, and I'll bet a dime to a dollar that you cannot publicly post pornographic material.

Now that you know ALL the Twitter rules, here are a few more that may or may not fit you...