Twitter has recently updated its rules and regulations for the people using this popular social network to provide a solution to the variety of problems that it is currently facing. Twitter is well aware of the fact that many users are abusing the privileges they have been given through this social network. Twitter is hoping the updated and revised rules will be able to weed out the problem accounts so that users can enjoy using this social network. I am going to discuss some of the problems Twitter has been experiencing and what the new rules will do to change that. It is important for social media optimization, to analyze the changes made in popular social networks and how it will impact the effectiveness of Internet marketing.

Twitter’s rules state that no pornographic or obscene profile pictures should be displayed or uploaded onto Twitter accounts. But in spite of this rule, there are still many Twitter users that display nude and vulgar profile pictures. Twitter has not yet dabbled into monitoring obscene content used in Tweets but it definitely means business when it comes to profile pictures. I wouldn’t be surprised if Twitter bans your account if your profile picture is showing more skin than necessary, so watch out! Twitter is also cracking down on spammers. Once you start using Twitter regularly you will notice that if your mark your tweet with a trending hashtag you will get a lot of traffic reading what you have to say about the popular subject of interest. Trending hashtags should only be used if you are genuinely tweeting about that subject. Spammers on Twitter tweet about whatever they want and include a trending hashtag even when it is not related to that topic of interest. Twitter will be taking action against users on Twitter who follow these spammy practices. This rule will especially have a significant impact on businesses that use Twitter for their Social Media Optimization campaigns. Businesses and corporations will have to make sure they are not using spam to increase their Twitter following.

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Twitter has been the center of attention with many celebrities taking up the activity of “tweeting” to their fans and followers. With the celeb hype Twitter has attracted, they have included rules that prevent you from impersonating someone else. The only account you can open on Twitter is for yourself. At most, if you decide to have an account on Twitter for your business or company make sure you have company authorization or ownership rights to do so. Twitter has also disallowed the opening of multiple accounts for your personal use. Many Twitter users create a “fan following” by opening multiple accounts and tweeting and following themselves. So the “hype” is actually self generated and goes against the ideals of Twitter. Twitter has many ways of easily finding out if you are one of those culprits and will take action against you.

Name squatting seems to be a serious problem that Twitter is also going to try and curb with the new regulations. Apparently a number of people on Twitter have been creating and “holding accounts hostage.” This is being done so that they can take advantage of companies who would want these Twitter ids and pay through their noses before they are handed over. Twitter is not at all happy with this practice and wants it to stop immediately. They are finding out who is trying to sell their accounts and shut them down so those ids can be available to whoever chooses. It will be interesting to see how these new rules affect companies who use Twitter for their Social Media Optimization campaign. I guess as long as they are not spamming followers and genuinely using this social network to get in touch and update their fans and consumers, I should see no problem.