Or, how to not be marked as a Twitter spammer.
My personal tips on how to use Twitter as a social networking tool for business purposes without crossing the line into new-media douchebag, marketing asshole or fucking spammer.
If you're not selling anything, then most of these rules don't apply to you. Just be yourself on Twitter and do what you want. You might want to read up on being a follow-creep, but other than that you should be good to go.
How to conduct yourself through Twitter.
Don't repeat marketing messages on endless loop. Twitter is a personal service, you should have a personality.
When should you, and when should you not, follow someone on Twitter? Here's a simple guideline: use the world "follow" as your indicator. Would you follow an individual around in real life? If not, then don't follow them on Twitter.
Only follow someone if you're genuinely interested in what they are saying. Adding someone in the hopes they'll notice you in their list is a spammer move.
If you know someone personally, feel free to follow them. No problem. If you don't have any "friends" because you think a business doesn't have friends, then you shouldn't be using Twitter.
If you've got a comfortable, established business relationship with someone, feel free to follow them. This should be a genuine expression of interest
Following someone around in the hopes they'll do business with you is kind of creepy and passive-aggressive. If you want to catch someone's eye about your product, send them a @message. This is far less creepy than following someone around.
This is fucking creepy and you're a fucking annoying, fucking douchebag.