Twitter - Do's and Don'ts of Twitter Etiquette
Rules for tweeting:
* Don't tweet more than about 4 or 5 times a day.
* Tweet interesting things.
* Share pictures and links with services like twitpic
* Don't blather on about what you are eating unless you intend to share the recipe
* Don't put private communications the public twitterstream
* Do NOT publically welcome all your new followers. Imagine reading pages of that.
* It is OK to tweet your blog posts, but it turns people off if that's all you do.
* Do not join a "monetize your tweets" service such as Magpie, as it will make people dump you.
* Do not brag about how many followers you have. Everyone can already see that.
* Do not ask for more followers. Boring!
* Retweet others frequently when they have tweeted something good.
* Reply to individuals in public if you think others would be interested.
* Do not tweet things like "Gaaaaaaah". We need context.
* Tweet at least every other day.
* Be happy and positive.
* Be human.
How to treat the people that follow you
* Do not send an auto-direct message thanking each new follower and sending them your pitch. Direct Messages are individual and personal.
* Thank new followers by following back if you haven't yet.
* Do not direct message followers whom you are not following because they can't direct message you back
* Recheck profiles of people you are not following from time to time. Some twits just need a little while to get the hang of it.
How to treat the people you follow
* Do not follow people just to get them to follow you back and then unfollow them.
* Do not do mass follows, or you will be considered a spammer even if you never tweet.
* Follow the followers of people you really like.
* Do not exclusively follow "Rock stars." Follow a few interesting noobs. They'll love you for it.
* Use a third party twitter client such as tweet deck to manage the twits that you follow into groups.
* Don't just read your direct messages and replies. Dip into the stream from time to time.
* Give them some time to follow you back.
* Try to follow about as many people as follow you.
