Guide to Social Sharing & Fair Use on Twitter

The rules and best practices of Twitter are much different than those of other websites.  In part, this is because Twitter is not meant to be a social networking site.  In fact, as it outlines on its website:

Twitter facilitates social networking, but it's not a social networking website. Twitter works quite differently from social networks: when you accept friend requests on social networks, it usually means you appear in that person's network and they appear in yours. Following on Twitter is different, because instead of indicating a mutual relationship, following is a one-way action that means you want to receive information, in the form of tweets, from someone. Twitter allows people to opt-in to (or opt-out of) receiving a person's updates without requiring mutual following. 

Because of this, you must be careful just how many people you follow at one time if you don’t have many followers yourself.  Twitter monitors both aggressive following and follow churn.  Aggressive following is when an account begins following an extreme number of accounts in one day.  Depending on your number of followers, Twitter will impose a limit of how many accounts you can follow at one time, and you’ll receive an error screen.  Aggressive follow churn is when an account repeatedly follows and un-follows large numbers of users at once. This may be done by some accounts to get noticed by lots of people, to circumvent a Twitter limit, or to change a follower-to-following ratio.  Both of these behaviors are outside of the Twitter terms of use, are common spam tactics, and may lead to account suspension.

Within its Terms of Service, Twitter also outlines content boundaries that need to be followed.  You may not produce the following types of content, or you may see your account suspended:

• Impersonation: You may not impersonate others through the Twitter service in a manner that does or is intended to mislead, confuse, or deceive others
• Trademark: We reserve the right to reclaim user names on behalf of businesses or individuals that hold legal claim or trademark on those user names. Accounts using business names and/or logos to mislead others will be permanently suspended.
• Privacy: You may not publish or post other people's private and confidential information, such as credit card numbers, street address or Social Security/National Identity numbers, without their express authorization and permission.
• Violence and Threats: You may not publish or post direct, specific threats of violence against others.
• Copyright: We will respond to clear and complete notices of alleged copyright infringement. Our copyright procedures are set forth in the Terms of Service.
• Unlawful Use: You may not use our service for any unlawful purposes or in furtherance of illegal activities. International users agree to comply with all local laws regarding online conduct and acceptable content.
• Misuse of Twitter Badges: You may not use a Verified Account badge or Promoted Products badge unless it is provided by Twitter. Accounts using these badges as part of profile pictures, background images, or in a way that falsely implies affiliation with Twitter will be suspended.