Friends with Benefits

Ten Ways to Be a Jerk on Twitter

As with any communications channel, you can behave acceptably or you can behave in a way that identifies you as clueless or downright wicked. Avoid these ten Twitter sins, and you'll stay on the right side of the microblogging mob:

Automatically send direct messages to greet each new follower.

Some Twitter users set up a service like TweetLater to send autoresponses to new followers. The response usually goes something like, "Thanks for following—please visit my site." Receiving these is no fun—these messages are a bit like calling a customer service line and never actually speaking to a human. They're impersonal and often include a blatant attempt to sell something.

Use Twitter as an "everything aggregator."

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