Twitter has taken off as a success in 2008. At the end of 2008, the numbers told us that 70% of all Twitter users had joined in 2008. Some people prefer to have a few close friends who follow them. Those people can do as they please. But if you’re interested in building a brand and using Twitter to promote it, here are some observations and best practices. Just keep in mind the old saying from grade school: “What if everyone did that?”

Rules for tweeting:

• Don’t tweet more than 4 or 5 times a day.
• Tweet interesting things.
• Share photos and links with services like twitpic
• Don’t babble about what you’re eating unless you intend to share the recipe.
• Do not put private communications in the public twitterstream
• Do NOT publicly welcome all your new followers. Imagine reading pages of that.
• It’s okay to tweet your blog posts, but it turns people away if that’s all you do.
• Don’t join a “monetize your tweets” service like Magpie, as it will make people leave you.
• Don’t brag about how many followers you have. Everyone can already see that.
• Don’t ask for more followers. Bored!
• Retweet others often when they’ve tweeted something good.
• Respond to people in public if you think others would be interested.
• Don’t tweet things like “Gaaaaaaah”. We need context.
• Tweet at least every other day.
• Be happy and positive.
• Be human.

How to treat people who follow you

• Don’t send an automated direct message thanking each new follower and sending them your speech. Direct Messages are individual and personal.
• Thank new followers by following us if you haven’t already.
• Do not send direct messages to followers you are not following because they cannot send you a direct message.
• Recheck the profiles of people you don’t follow from time to time. Some tweets just take a little getting used to.

How to treat the people you follow

• Don’t follow people just to get them to follow you and then unfollow them.
• Don’t mass follow, or you’ll be considered a spammer even if you never tweet.
• Follow the followers of people you really like.
• Don’t follow “rock stars” exclusively. Follow some interesting newbies. They will love you for it.
• Use a third-party Twitter client, like tweet deck, to manage the tweets you follow in groups.
• Don’t just read your direct messages and replies. Take a dip in the creek from time to time.
• Give them some time to follow you.
• Try to follow as many people as they follow you.