This week Twitter announced changes to its Terms of Service spelling out that you own your Tweets, and that Twitter (
) can place ads next to your content. What’s more, Twitter wants to crack down on spammers, bots and other bad behavior.
The refreshed Twitter Rules that are a part of the new Terms of Service spell out a number of different reasons why you may find your Twitter account terminated. Everything from inappropriate content and squatting to selling usernames could be cause for you to get the boot.
Upon closer look we noticed that Twitter is closing the curtain on at least 10 types of Twitter users we see regularly attempt to game the service. Here are the 10 people we won’t be hearing from anymore:
1. The Impersonator
You know who you are. You create Twitter accounts using celebrity names or big brand identities and you hope to fool unsuspecting Twitterers into following you for your namesake. Good luck with that.
Twitter clearly spells out that “you may not impersonate others through the Twitter service in a manner that does or is intended to mislead, confuse, or deceive others.”
Clearing out impersonators will certainly be an ongoing process, but thankfully the Tony LaRussa lawsuit prompted Twitter to launch Verified Accounts, giving us assurance that those celebrities we follow are who they say they are.
2. The Bot
Robotic Twitter accounts should live in fear of death by the powers that be at Twitter. If you’re not human and you’re configured to automatically tweet, reply, and retweet based on Twitter content or RSS feeds then you could be in danger.
The rules express a clear preference for the human touch when it comes to Twitter updates, stating that you could be in violation of the TOS and subject to termination, “if your updates consist mainly of links, and not personal updates.”
This is an area where there might some push back by Twitterers, as some of us use bots for practical purposes. IMDb’s Twitter account, which has more than 45k followers, is guilty of bot-like behavior, posting auto-updates from the movie database and auto-replying and DMing to Twitter inquiries, but it’s obviously well-received by followers. We’re hoping Twitter will use discretion here to separate out the good bots from the bad ones (like these guys).
3. The Naked Chick
While Twitter doesn’t plan to police or censor tweet content of an adult variety, they are going to crack down on inappropriate avatars or images on your Twitter background. When it comes to porn, the Twitter rules dictate that, “You may not use obscene or pornographic images in either your profile picture or user background.”
Moral of the story: put some clothes on before you smile bright for your Twitter avatar or background image photo op.
4. The Serial Abuser
We’ve all seen those Twitterers who are following 30,000 users but only have 4 followers in return. Then, there are those that open massive quantities of Twitter accounts to retweet their own replies or stories, seeking the limelight of a Twitter trending topic.
It’s all very fishy, and we’re pretty good at sniffing these users out for what they are — spammers – but we could always use a little extra help. Thankfully, Twitter to the rescue.
Serial accounts will not be tolerated, “You may not create serial accounts for disruptive or abusive purposes. Mass account creation will result in suspension of all accounts.” Serial activity could also get you in to trouble, so you might want to avoid these behaviors:
- If you have followed a large amount of users in a short amount of time
- If you have followed and unfollowed people in a short time period, particularly by automated means (aggressive follower churn)
- If you repeatedly follow and unfollow people, whether to build followers or to garner more attention for your profile;
- If you have a small number of followers compared to the amount of people you are following
- If a number of spam complaints have been filed against you
- If you post duplicate content over multiple accounts or multiple duplicate updates on one account
- If you send large numbers of duplicate @replies
- If you send large numbers of unsolicited @replies in an attempt to spam a service or link5. The Squatter
Domain name squatting has long been practiced by those looking to make money by snapping up desirable names in the hopes of later flipping them for a profit to interested buyers. Given the value of a good Twitter name, it’s no surprise the practice has rolled to over the micro medium as well.
But Twitter will have none of that. Name squatting is clearly spelled out as a big no-no. “You may not engage in name squatting. Accounts that are inactive for more than 6 months may also be removed without further notice.”
Twitter will get suspicious based on any of these behaviors:
- 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 parties6. The Slimy Salesman
We know you’re out there. You think you can manipulate the Twitter ecosystem and turn Twitter followers into a marketplace for your own profit.
But if you think you can sell Twitter followers and just get away with it, think again. You’re on Twitter’s bad list, “If you have attempted to “sell” followers, particularly through tactics considered aggressive following or follower churn.”
Does that mean you can’t gamble with them either?
7. The Hashtag Spammer
Due to the popularity of trending topics, opportunistic Twitterers have discovered that they can potentially reach more eyeballs if they append a trending hashtag to their tweet. The activity is known as hashtag spam, and it’s unfortunately pretty commonplace and often inappropriate, just look at Habitat’s spam tactics as an example.
Thankfully, for those of you who “post multiple unrelated updates to a topic using #,” or “post multiple unrelated updates to a trending or popular topic,” your days may be numbered.
8. The Plagiarizer
The next time you tweet something someone else said or wrote without attributing it to them, you might want to think twice. There’s now a Twitter code of ethics around content attribution, so “if you repost other user’s content without attribution,” you might find your account in limbo.
This is quite an interesting policy, as plagiarism and the failure to attribute content when appropriate is certainly an issue for the blogosphere as a whole, but not something we expected to see Twitter try to enforce. Of course we believe attribution to be very important (even if it’s just in RT form), we just think it might be hard to police.
9. The Über Oversharer or Bully
Oversharing is common place on Twitter, especially if you buy into the thinking that 40% of tweets are pointless babble. But there comes a time and place when what you share in the public domain could be detrimental to another individual. Should that be the case, Twitter isn’t afraid to step in and take action.
As spelled out in the section on content boundaries, “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.”
Basically they’re making it easier for themselves to crack down on the bullies of this Twittersphere, especially since threats won’t be tolerated either. “You may not publish or post direct, specific threats of violence against others.”
Hopefully Twitter will be a safer place as a result.
10. The Faker
Given that Twitter has made its seal of approval for Verified Accounts relatively easy to replicate, those looking to add their own guaranteed stamp of authenticity can make something passable with a little ingenuity and a few Photoshop skills.
To impersonate someone on Twitter is one thing, but to fake having a verified account is something different entirely. That’s why the penalty for faking verification is permanent suspension.
The rules clearly state that, “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.”
What bad behavior on Twitter annoys you the most? Let us know in the comments.
Box image courtesy of iStockphoto (
), hillwoman2, Bully image from Chesi – Fotos CC, on Flickr (
).
Posted via web from GLTSS
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