TwitNine

Like any other social-media company, Twitter has a Terms of Service (TOS) agreement that all members must adhere to or risk having their accounts suspended or deleted. You can access Twitter’s terms at http://twitter.com/terms. You won’t find anything particularly surprising in them: You must be at least 13 years old to create an account and use the service, you can’t engage in abuse or harassment, you can’t spam other members or participate in activities that break any laws, and so on. The terms are actually more liberal than most Web services’ regulations; pornography and explicit language, for example, aren’t banned.

Beyond the terms of service, Twitter etiquette is simple: Be genuine and non deceptive and provide value. Other than that, just use Twitter how it suits you. This is primarily an unofficial protocol, but do keep in mind that Twitter keeps tabs on “deceptive” activity, too: Twitter can ban accounts that impersonate celebrities or companies if those accounts don’t make it clear that they’re unofficial or parodies. This policy is a contentious point in the Twitter community: Many members were upset when the @cwalken account, belonging to an aspiring comedian pretending to be actor Christopher Walken, was deleted from the system.

Beyond the simple regulations, you can’t really use Twitter in a right or wrong way because no two people use it for exactly the same reasons. But some members certainly have their opinions:

• Some users complain when others tweet too often, whereas others complain that their contacts don’t tweet enough. (This complaint is a little silly. Don’t like the contents? Turn the dial. Unsubscribe.)
• Some users take issue with strings of @replies and wonder why those conversations weren’t conducted in a private forum.
• You may encounter confusing, even conflicting, advice and back-seat tweeting from the handful of people on Twitter who aren’t comfortable without rules. Don’t take them too seriously; Twitter just isn’t that rigid.

Although users love Twitter’s largely rule-free nature, some generally accepted behaviors have evolved over time. You can ease your transition into the culture of Twitter by getting familiar with these behaviors before you first start out. Establish dedication and credibility early on, in part, by knowing your way around the following Twitter customs.

Many Twitter neophytes want to know what the rules are or whether Twitter has standard protocol and etiquette. Like many other social media sites, Twitter sprang from a close-knit group of early adopters who set the rhythm. Because Twitter was a favorite of Silicon Valley’s new-media elite long before it broke into the mainstream, some insider jokes and conventions used can be confusing. Longtime users have certainly fallen into certain habits or sets of rules. But now that Twitter has become so popular and diverse, you canfind plenty of wiggle room to do your own thing.

Like any other social-media company, Twitter has a Terms of Service (TOS) agreement that all members must adhere to or risk having their accounts suspended or deleted. You can access Twitter’s terms at http://twitter.com/terms. You won’t find anything particularly surprising in them: You must be at least 13 years old to create an account and use the service, you can’t engage in abuse or harassment, you can’t spam other members or participate in activities that break any laws, and so on. The terms are actually more liberal than most Web services’ regulations; pornography and explicit language, for example, aren’t banned.

Beyond the terms of service, Twitter etiquette is simple: Be genuine and non deceptive and provide value. Other than that, just use Twitter how it suits you. This is primarily an unofficial protocol, but do keep in mind that Twitter keeps tabs on “deceptive” activity, too: Twitter can ban accounts that impersonate celebrities or companies if those accounts don’t make it clear that they’re unofficial or parodies. This policy is a contentious point in the Twitter community: Many members were upset when the @cwalken account, belonging to an aspiring comedian pretending to be actor Christopher Walken, was deleted from the system.

Beyond the simple regulations, you can’t really use Twitter in a right or wrong way because no two people use it for exactly the same reasons. But some members certainly have their opinions:

• Some users complain when others tweet too often, whereas others complain that their contacts don’t tweet enough. (This complaint is a little silly. Don’t like the contents? Turn the dial. Unsubscribe.)
• Some users take issue with strings of @replies and wonder why those conversations weren’t conducted in a private forum.
• You may encounter confusing, even conflicting, advice and back-seat tweeting from the handful of people on Twitter who aren’t comfortable without rules. Don’t take them too seriously; Twitter just isn’t that rigid.