Are Content Creation Tools Hurting or Helping Us on Twitter?
So after writing about how NOT to get locked out of Twitter the other week, one of my 2 Twitter accounts got suspended for 48 hours.
Imagine how I felt after writing about how NOT to get locked out Twitter?
Years ago I would have panicked, today I remained calm. I had been locked out before from Twitter and always got unlocked within 48 hours.
The last time a few years back it happened, I received an apology from Twitter via email. They claimed I was caught up in the “Twitter bots”.
The more I learned from these experience, the more I could teach and blog.
No better way to teach than from actual experience! Many people had been emailing me or contact me on my Facebook page on how to unlock their Twitter accounts.
Many of those people it appears, did not have an email associated with their Twitter account. Or they lost that old email account and could not get back into it.
For me this time, it was my least active Twitter account that was suspended. But the suspension has really got me thinking a lot since then.
Is it the content creation tools we are using going against the Twitter rules?
The Reply from Twitter on Email
This is the email reply from Twitter I received once they unsuspended my Twitter account:
“Hello,
After reviewing your appeal, we’ve decided to unsuspend your account.
Your account was suspended after finding violations of the Twitter Rules. Specifically, our policies prohibiting spam, and fake or artificial account interactions and engagements. This could include selling, purchasing, or attempting to inflate account interactions. It also might mean using third-party apps that claim to get you more followers or retweets, or participating in engagement or follow exchange groups, which are sometimes referred to as “decks.”
Any future violations could lead to a permanent suspension of your account. Please make sure that you, and anyone with access to your account, always follow the Twitter Rules.”
Thanks, Twitter
As you can see from above email Twitter did not pinpoint one reason why but just reiterated their Twitter rules.
Twitter Artificial Interactions
So this is what really got me thinking: What are considered artificial interactions on Twitter?
Are those tweets that have quotes and tag many others on them part of artificial interactions? I see many of those types of tweets being tweeted out daily.
As I am writing this I am thinking of one on that particular Twitter account that could have caused the recent suspension:
So does sending quotes and tagging many along the way send a red flag to Twitter? I was not the one starting these type of tweets but replying to them every now and then to be polite.
No more politeness going forward there!
(But on the other side of the coin, I did send those type of tweets to many on Fridays for the popular #FollowFriday). Hmm. That may be a thing of the past now :) The better way would be to send one tweet to one person at a time.
Could these type of tweets also be considered what Twitter is referring to as “decks?”
3rd Party Apps and Twitter
Some of my favorite apps are 3rd party apps with Twitter like Triberr and Viral Content Bee. Now I’m re-thinking that strategy.
I’ve used both Triberr and Viral Content Bee for at least 6 years and never had a problem with the Twitter rules. Ironically, I did not use them on the Twitter account that was suspended.
I’m leaning of favor that these tools are still okay to use today in moderation with Twitter. Thousands of others are still using them safely on Twitter.
Scheduling Tweets Out in Time
What about scheduling tweets in the future? Many social media managers live or die by scheduling social media posts out.
Can we schedule the same ones over and over or will Twitter punish those as well against their “gray” Twitter rules? Do we need to update them each time we schedule them to make them look a little different?
There are so many tools out there today like Hootsuite, Buffer, Agorapulse, Social Pilot, Sprout, Sendible, eClincher, Co-Schedule to name a few.
They are all tools that you can use to schedule out tweets. Many of the tools cost money and are part of a social media management program.
In our busy 24/7 lives we need tools like these to be active on social media.
I truly believe when done correctly these tools can help us provide better content on social media.
In Conclusion of the Latest Twitter Suspension
After writing this piece here on Medium I believe it was the tweet example I’ve shown above that caused the recent Twitter suspension.
I’ll be sure to stay away from replying to those type of tweets going forward.
Maybe even unfollow the ones starting those type of chain tweets?
I will be tweeting differently on that account going forward.
If you have multiple accounts on Twitter be very careful. Do NOT use any of the same tweets on both accounts.
I’d love to know your thoughts on the Twitter rules and how they apply on Twitter today.
Will you be changing the way you tweet in 2019 and beyond?
