Find out how and why Twitter have cracked down on automation and bot usage…
Most digital marketing strategies now include automation and bot usage to help manage the overflow of questions on a platform that operates 24 hours a day seven days a week.
Not only do bots save on man power throughout those early hours of the morning but it saves pennies too. So…why have Twitter cracked down on bots and what are the changes?
Multiple accounts
The biggest change we feel that PR and marketing managers will see is running different accounts through TweetDeck. Twitter will begin to phase out multiple account usage to crack down on spam content or automatically posting the same content across a number of social media accounts.
We don’t see this as a bad change though – we see it as a challenge to become more creative through marketing channels and provide your audience with an array of interesting content.
Breach of data
We have all seen in the news that our data is being used to influence the decisions of others and being sold to companies that want to market a certain type of audience. Twitter is tightening its belt and making sure it is complying in all areas of data protection.
You will still be able to make use of its analytics tool but the information you are being provided with will be less detailed than say that of Facebook.
Spam
Twitter is extremely strict on spam. If we look at the new GDPR regulations (which we should already have been abiding by) then you should only be receiving information from organisations you opt into and you should be able to choose what you see. Why should social media be any different?
You wouldn’t expect a reputable company to post you a letter or send you an e-mail with the same information copied onto each line would you? Sending the same content out on social media over and over again creates spam for those potential customers.
Spam on Twitter and you will face their strict enforcements which are being put into place as we speak.
Quality
Twitter wants to see quality information coming from the companies/ organisations its users follow. It is fast becoming a platform for news and quick fixes of information. We suggest using twitter to make short, snappy announcements from your company to ensure that the information you are pushing out to your audience is quality.
Third party applications
Be aware that you are ultimately responsible for the actions you take on social media. Before you add a third party to your Twitter site or any social media site in fact, make sure you investigate the application properly and what it will do.
If these third-party applications act on your behalf and they post automated content across a variety of channels, your account may be filtered from search results and suspended.
Twitter does encourage third party applications though to build solutions that broadcast helpful information, to help businesses run creative campaigns and to auto-reply to users who actively engage with your social media content.
We have seen these changes effect our own social media management campaigns run through out management tool – MeetEdgar. If you are now wondering how you can physically tweet on a regular basis, contact our social media team here or read our blog on planning social media content.
