What Do the New Twitter Rules Mean to Social Media ... - Buffer

The Twitter Rules prohibit posting duplicative or substantially similar content — both on one account and across multiple accounts. KeepingTwittersafeandfreefromspamisatoppriorityforus.—YoelRoth,APIPolicyandProductTrustatTwitterThisyear,theteamatTwitterhastakenadditionalactiontokeepTwitterfreefromspam.Specifically,theyhaveintroducednewrulesaroundautomationandtheuseofmultipleaccounts.Youmightbewondering,“whyisthisimportanttome?”Inshort,Twittermightsuspendyouraccountifyoufailtocomply.TheserulesarealsoencouraginggoodsharingpracticesonTwitterandwillbenefiteveryoneinthelongrun.Andsincethisissuchanimportanttopic,wewouldlovetoexploreittogetherwithyou.Inthisblogpost,we’llsharetherationalebehindthenewrulesandwhattheruleswouldmeantoyou—asaTwitteruserandaBuffercustomer.It’llbegreattohearyourthoughtsinthecommentssectionbelow,too.WhydidTwitterintroducethesenewrules?First,let’sunderstandtherationalebehindtheserules.SpamhasbeenanissueonTwitterforalongtimeandyoumightrecognizethesetwocommontypesofspam:Asingleaccountpostingidentical(oralmostidentical)tweetsMultipleaccountspostingidentical(oralmostidentical)tweetsSuchtweetsoftendon’tprovidethebestexperiencetoTwitterusers,especiallysinceTwitterstillshowmosttweetsinthereverse-chronologicalorder.Suchaggressivespamfromotherscanpreventyourfollowersfromseeingyourthoughtfully-createdtweets.That’swhytheteamatTwitterwantstotacklethemwiththenewrules.Asyou’llfindoutbelow,thenewrulesmaycreatesomeextrastepsforyouasasocialmediamanager—regardlessofwhetheryouuseautomationornot.Butoverall,wefeelthatthesechangeswillbenefitTwitterasawholeandbenefityouasamarketer.WhatarethenewTwitterrules(andwhatdotheymeantoyou)?YoelRoth,whoworksonAPIPolicyandProductTrustatTwitter,publishedablogpostaboutthenewrules.Theblogpost,however,istargetedmoreatdevelopersthanmarketers.Hence,wewouldlovetosharewhatthenewrulesmeantoyou.Theeasiestwaytounderstandtherulesisthis:TheTwitterRulesprohibitpostingduplicativeorsubstantiallysimilarcontent—bothononeaccountandacrossmultipleaccounts.Let’sbreakthatdownfurther.Herearethefourkeyareas:PostingtomultipleaccountsPostingmultiplesimilartweetsPostingmultipletweetstoatrendingtopicSimultaneouslyperformactionssuchasLikes,Retweets,orfollowsfrommultipleaccounts1.PostingtomultipleaccountsWhatTwittersaidPostingduplicativeorsubstantiallysimilarcontent,replies,ormentionsovermultipleaccountsyoucontrol,orcreatingduplicateorsubstantiallysimilaraccounts,withorwithouttheuseofautomation,isneverallowed.WhatitmeanstosocialmediamanagersTherearethreekeytakeawaysfromthisguideline:Youcannotpostidentical(orevenalmostidentical)contenttomultipleaccounts.Youcannotcreatemultipleaccountsthatareverysimilartooneanother.Theaboveappliestoyouwhetheryouuseanautomationtool(whichincludesscheduling)oryoumanuallypostyourtweets.Here’sanexampleofwhat’snotallowed:Ifyouhavemultipledistinctaccounts,whichyouwishtopostthesamecontentto,Twitterrecommendsthatyouretweetthecontentfromoneaccountusingtheremainingaccounts(likeBriandidinthebelowexample).Beaware,however,that“bulk,aggressive,orveryhigh-volumeautomatedRetweetingisnotpermitted”.Inotherwords,retweetingfromafewaccountsisfine.Retweetingfromahundredaccountswillprobablyraisearedflag.WhatitmeanstoBuffercustomersBufferusedtoallowyoutopostthesamecontenttomultipleTwitteraccountsusingthecomposer.Withthisnewguideline,wehaveimplementedthreechangestohelpyoustayclearofthisguideline.First,youcannolongerselectmultipleTwitteraccountsinthecomposer.WhenyoutrytoselectmorethanoneTwitteraccountinyourBuffercomposer,you’llseeamessageaboutthisnewchange.Second,youcannolongerusethedrag-and-dropcopyfeaturetocopypostsfromoneTwitterQueuetoanother.Wehopethatbyremovingthisfeature,wecanpreventusersfromunintentionallypostingsimilarcontenttomultipleTwitteraccounts,therebyviolatingthenewrule.Third,youcannolongerRe-BufferpreviouslypublishedTwitterpoststoTwitteraccountsusingdrag-and-drop.YoucanstillusetheRe-Bufferbutton,whichallowsyoutomodifythepostbeforesharingitagain.2.PostingmultiplesimilartweetsWhatTwittersaidWhatitmeanstosocialmediamanagersThisrulemeansthatyoucannotpostorscheduleidenticaltweets(includingrepliesandmentions)overseveralhoursordays.Itisn’tclearifyoucanpostanidenticaltweetafteralongertimeframesuchasamonthortwo.Itseemsbesttoavoidthat,too.ThisTwitterforumdiscussionprovidesabitmoreinsightsonsharingblogpostsonTwitter.Here’sanexampleofwhat’snotallowed:Here’sanexampleofwhatwetrytodowhenwewanttoshareablogpostseveraltimes:WhatitmeanstoBuffercustomersTohelpyoupreventinstancesofsharingsimilarcontentmultipletimesunintentionally,youcannolongerschedulepostsforTwittermultipletimesusingthePowerSchedulerfeature.Here’showthePowerSchedulefeaturelookslike:YoucanstillusethePowerScheduleforothersocialmediaplatformssuchasFacebookandLinkedIn.Youjustcan’tuseitforTwitteranymore.YoucanalsostillusetheRe-BufferfeatureinthePostsReportinyourBufferanalytics.We’veaddedashortnotetoremindyoutomodifyyourtweetbeforeschedulingsothatyouaren’tposting“substantiallysimilar”tweets.3.PostingmultipletweetstoatrendingtopicWhatTwittersaidPostingmultipleupdates(onasingleaccountoracrossmultipleaccountsyoucontrol)toatrendingorpopulartopic(forinstance,throughtheuseofaspecifichashtag)withanintenttosubvertormanipulatethetopic,ortoartificiallyinflatetheprominenceofahashtagortopic,isneverallowed.WhatitmeanstosocialmediamanagersThisrulemeansthatyoucannotpostmultipletweetsonatrendingtopicwiththeintentiontodominatethetopic“todrivetrafficorattentiontounrelatedaccounts,products,services,orinitiatives”.Thisappliestoyouinallofthefollowingcircumstances:WhetheryouarepostingtoasingleaccountormultipleaccountsWhetherthecontentisexactlyidenticalorslightlydifferentWhetheryouareusingahashtagornotHere’smybestguessofwhat’snotallowed(e.g.when#bufferchatistrending):WhatitmeanstoBuffercustomersTheproductchangesmentionedabovewillhelpyouavoidpostingduplicativecontenttoasingleaccountormultipleaccounts.4.SimultaneouslyperformactionssuchasLikes,Retweets,orfollowsfrommultipleaccountsWhatTwittersaidTheuseofanyformofautomation…toperformactionssuchasLikesorRetweets,acrossmanyaccounts…(whetherornotyoucreatedordirectlycontrolthoseaccounts)isnotpermitted.WhatitmeanstosocialmediamanagersThisrulemeansthatyoucannotusetoolstohelpyoulike,retweet,orfollowfrommultipleaccounts.Forexample,sometoolsallowyoutolikeatweetusingseveralaccountswithjustaclick.Sometoolsevenautomaticallyliketweetsusingseveralaccounts.Thesearenolongerallowed,andusingthesetoolscanriskyouraccountbeingsuspended.WhatitmeanstoBuffercustomersBufferdoesn’thaveanyfeaturesthatallowyoutodoanyofthat.Soyoudon’thavetoworryaboutviolatingthisrulewhileusingBuffer.OtherrulesandresourcesBesidesthesefourrules,Twitterhasapagewhereitlistsalltheirrules.It’llbegreattocheckthatout,especiallythesectiononspam.Ifyouwouldliketoreadfurtheronthistopic,hereareafewmoreresources:TheTwitterRulesTwitter’stweetthreadaboutthenewrulesTwitterbansbulktweetingandduplicateaccountsinbotcrackdown(TheVerge)WhatTwitter’sNewRulesMeanforSocialMediaScheduling(MeetEdgar)Ifyouhaveanyquestionsabouttherules,feelfreetomentionthembelow.WhileIcannotguaranteethatIknowtheanswer,I’llbehappytodiscussthemwithyou.OvertoyouOverall,weareoptimisticthatthenewTwitterruleswillbebeneficialtotheentireTwitterecosystem.ReducingspamonTwittercanalsogreatlybenefitmarketersinmanyways.First,there’llbeahigherchanceforyourqualitycontenttobeseen.Second,asyounolongerhavetocompetewiththespamforyourfollowers’attention,youcanpostfewertweetsandspendmoretimemakingeachoneevenbetter.Third,whentheoverallqualityoftweetsimproves,peoplemightbemorelikelytointeractwithtweetsorclickonlinksintweets,bringingyoumoreengagementandtraffic.Aretheremorebenefitsthatyoucanthinkof?Weunderstandthatmanyofyouareusedtothefeaturesthatwe’vejustremovedandthesechangeswillcausemuchinconvenientforyou.Ifyouhaveanythoughtsandfeedback,wewouldloveforyoutosharethembelow.Thankyou.—Imagecredit:PhotobySlavaBowmanonUnsplash 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