How to use twitter is a question I get asked a lot. Along those lines, you might be interested to know what Twitter considers spam. Here's a list from their site.
When it comes to more links than updates (see bold item below), I'm not sure I agree. If you're sending useful links (which admittedly is hard to measure) to your followers and throwing in the occasional update, I would be more likely to follow you than if you were tweeting more personal updates. Sending useful links out to your people puts the focus on your audience which is largely where it belongs in any interaction in life.
What do you think?
*Spam: You may not use the Twitter service for the purpose of spamming anyone. What constitutes “spamming” will evolve as we respond to new tricks and tactics by spammers. Some of the factors that we take into account when determining what conduct is considered to be spamming are:
- If you have followed a large amount of users in a short amount of time;
- If you have followed and unfollowed people in a short time period, particularly by automated means (aggressive follower churn);
- If you repeatedly follow and unfollow people, whether to build followers or to garner more attention for your profile;
- If you have a small number of followers compared to the amount of people you are following;
- If your updates consist mainly of links, and not personal updates;
- If a large number of people are blocking you;
- The number of spam complaints that have been filed against you;
- If you post duplicate content over multiple accounts or multiple duplicate updates on one account
- If you post multiple unrelated updates to a topic using #
- If you post multiple unrelated updates to a trending or popular topic
- If you send large numbers of duplicate @replies
- If you send large numbers of unsolicited @replies in an attempt to spam a service or link
- If you repost other user’s content without attribution.
- If you have attempted to "sell" followers, particularly through tactics considered aggressive following or follower churn.
