Lately, it seems like just about everyone wants to tell you the RIGHT way to use Twitter. They want to tell you how often you should tweet, what services and applications you should use, what kinds of people you should follow and how you should go about getting your own Twitter followers.

Thing is: they're all wrong. Well, not "wrong," persay. But they're wrong in assuming that there is one, single, "right way" to use Twitter. One of the things that makes Twitter such an amazing service with so much potential is the fact that everyone seems to use it in a different way. With a few exceptions (like #hashtags), there are very few hard and fast "rules" of how to use Twitter correctly. Some strategies that work well for one particular user will be completely meaningless for a different kind of user.

Just because there is no one "right" way to use Twitter, though, doesn't mean that there is no "wrong" way to use it. There ARE, definitively, a few tactics that unsavory Twitter users are using which are not only unsuccessful, but which can hurt a business' brand and even draw the wrath of the Twitter admins - leading, eventually, to the termination of your Twitter account.

Here's a few examples of some Twitter "Bad Behavior" that you would do well to avoid:

• Outright Spam

  Accounts like MILF_Hunter2008 are short-lived. Creating an account to distribute porn or other unsavory content, then mass-adding as many users as you can so you can spam them with a URL-laden Direct Message is a great way to get your account (and, if you repeat the process, your IP) banned by Twitter. Do yourself a favor - if you're going to spam porn, do it someplace else.

• Auto-Direct Messages w/URL's

  One strategy often used by Twitter spammers is to send an automatic Direct Message sending users to a website. Thing is - most users either ignore these direct messages completely, unblock or even block the Twitter user in question. Why? Because when you send a DM like that, pushing your website, that tells other Twitter users "I'm not interested in having a conversation. I'm interested in you, clicking this link, and that's it. All I'm going to add to your life is repeated demands for your attention.
  When I receive a DM like that from a user, I block them immediately - since I know they're not reading any of my tweets, it doesn't bother me that by blocking them, I'm preventing them from seeing my status updates. That's how much I hate those Auto-DM's.

• Mass-Tweeting Links

  Sending out a long train of meaningless, impersonal tweets with links to new articles or websites is another great way of saying "I don't care about what you have to say; all I care about is you, clicking this link." Personally, when I see a user posting more than three links at a time to the same website, I unfollow them - whether your threshold is that low or not is up to you. If I wanted to see a long list of links, I'd follow @BreakingNews.
  If you're going to share your blog posts, it's best to space them out. Intersperse them with real, actual conversation with your followers, or you'll lose them.

• Invite your followers, over and over again, to play Twitter-based games like Spymaster

  Spymaster is fun. If you're playing it. If you're not, the repeated requests to join the game can get tiring after a while. If you're abusive with it, they can get downright tedious - and tedium is something we don't have to tolerate on Twitter. I've unfollowed a few users for aggressive game invitations, and I expect that will continue as more and more Twitter-based games are created.

These are my opinions. Not every Twitter user is going to agree with me - and certainly not the folks who are doing these kinds of things. I can't tell you that every single Twitter user is going to react the same way to this kind of Twitter "bad behavior."

What I can tell you, though, is that I will react badly to them. And A long list of followers is nothing more than a long list of individuals, all with their own tastes and preferences. If I don't like it, chances are that a lot of other Twitter users don't like it either. Don't hurt your brand by engaging in these kinds of spammy tactics; they'll be recorded on Twitter for all of the world to see, and you'll have a hard time getting the cat back in the bag.

Check our blog for some advice on getting good-quality Twitter followers - On Twitter, Organic Followers Are Best is a good place to start.