Sep 2009 30

Screen shot 2009-09-29 at 11.34.41 PM

Today I wrote twitter, Evan Williams and Jack Dorsey (CEOs of twitter) all with the same message to see if there was a rulebook on twitter. I’ve gotten no responses yet, but this subject came up a few weeks ago on here. We talked about doing a blog post on this subject matter, so here it is. I’ve always thought you can just make twitter whatever you want it to be, but some others don’t agree- (part 1) and (part 2) // (Examples: How often you should tweet, Auto-follow, Auto DMs, asking for RTs, tweet to reply ratio). So, what do you think?… Should twitter have rules about how you should tweet or should you be able to tweet however you want to?

15 Comments

  1. Udi says:

    I actually think there are 'rules of behavior' on Twitter someone on the website. At least I vaguely remember reading *about* that (didn't actually go and read those). Yes, I now remember – i.e. if you take someone's RT and RT it yourself without acknowledgment you may be banned. There's a number of these things, but most of them are just common sense and courtesy.

  2. @FriedBob says:

    I don't there should be rules per se, but I do think that there is a netiquette that should be followed, much like there is for usenet, IRC and forums.

    As with many online communities it will be self regulating. Those who play nice are accepted and welcomed, and those who don't are outcast.

    @thegazzman had a good post on this recently, talking about how the way you tweet reveals your character and determines your fate.

    Those who are friendly, RT, use tags and have a decent signal to noise ratio gain followers.

    Spammers, people who attack others and generally have a nasty attitude don't get many followers and tend to be shunned or blocked. Guides and lists of things to do and not do are good, but many hard rules will kill the community.

  3. wildcat1998 says:

    The rules are probably under the terms link at the bottom of the page. The title is Terms of Service. I think I actually read them when I signed up but I can't remember. I think it might be good for Twitter to Tweet the rules from time to time so we don't forget. I agree with the courtesy and common sense listed above.

  4. jackalopekid says:

    gotcha. just specified what I meant read the examples and reply to those

  5. Mike says:

    I vote for free tweeting. We've got enough regulation in our lives. However, continue to lead by example my friend

  6. Pastor_T says:

    When I have to start thinking about the "rules" of Twitter, it will be time to stop tweeting. If your bio or blog or facebook or whatever you have in your bio interests me, I'll follow you. I don't give a rip if you ("you" in general…not YOU) follow me back. Used to do the auto follow thing, but I like to block the porn spam as they come in…..sitting down to block bulk at one time takes forever. I tweet when I feel the urge…..my blog goes to Twitter…ummm….cuz some folks don't do the RSS thing.
    Yeah, that's about it…..

  7. FriedBob says:

    Sorry, I didn't have the link handy when I was commenting.

    HEre it is:

    http://motivationselfesteem.com/talk/1018/twitter...

  8. Whether we like it or not, there are rules that Twitter enforces. Here is the link: http://help.twitter.com/forums/26257/entries/1831...

    For some reason, Twitter has put me on their spam list and it totally sucks because it means that I don't show up in searches and I don't show up in #hashtags. I have repeatedly tried to get this issue fixed but they say it is out of their hands (i.e. it is automated). Ugh!

    Has anyone else run into this?

  9. Some rules are needed
    For peace and propriety
    But fewer better
    http://ChristianHaiku.com

  10. jackalopekid says:

    no prob. awesome. thanks

  11. jackalopekid says:

    thanks for the link

  12. jackalopekid says:

    cool man. good stuff

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