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A good friend of mine—who hasn’t yet placed so much as one delicate toe into the opaque waters of Twitter—asked me whether it’s something she could use to promote a product that she sells. Personally, I’m not a fan of Twitter marketing, but I also don’t believe in forcing my world view upon others.

Here’s what I told her (sans anything identifying):

OK, so – Twitter.

Most people use Twitter to just blurt out little tidbits of info about what they’re doing. Some people use it to promote a product, service, or to build their “personal brand” (ugh!). Many (most?) of the people who just use it as a great big chat room to hang out with their friends resent the ‘intrusion’ of the marketers & promoters into ‘their’ fun space. Some don’t, but many do.

Like the ‘net has “netiquette”, so has Twitter (“Twittiquette”?). It isn’t written down anywhere, and the rules are not universally agreed upon – but when you breach it, you’ll certainly know. It’s really easy to go from hero to persona non grata in the blink of an eye. (continue reading…)