February 2018: The Twitter Update re: the use of automation and multiple accounts

From the Twitter blog: Keeping Twitter safe and free from spam is a top priority for us. One of the most common spam violations we see is the use of multiple accounts and the Twitter developer platform to attempt to artificially amplify or inflate the prominence of certain Tweets. To be clear: Twitter prohibits any attempt to use automation for the purposes of posting or disseminating spam, and such behavior may result in enforcement action.

Essentially, Twitter is going the way of Google (sorta) to penalize, or in this case prohibit, brands from simultaneously posting identical or substantially similar content to multiple accounts, especially from automation platforms. Twitter’s Yoel Roth goes on to say,  “One of the most common spam violations we see is the use of multiple accounts and the Twitter developer platform to attempt to artificially amplify or inflate the prominence of certain Tweets. To be clear: Twitter prohibits any attempt to use automation for the purposes of posting or disseminating spam, and such behavior may result in enforcement action.” Sounds pretty serious. 

Essentially what this means is Twitter is going to be putting the hammer down on anyone trying to spread spam/fake news, then republishing the same spam/fake news from multiple accounts thereby making it look like it’s not spam/real news. However, differentiating between this spam and authentic content, the types your multi-location brand is used to pushing out across all locations will become harder for the social media giant to differentiate between. 

Need to brush up on Twitter best practices? Grab your copy of, “Twitter for Multi-Location Businesses: The Complete Guide” 

For the most part, we know our SOCi users are staying well within the best-practice guidelines for posting to Twitter, but just in case you need a rundown of what’s changing to the social platform given this update, you can see that here (Source: Twitter):

• Simultaneously posting identical or similar content to multiple accounts will now be frowned upon and prohibited. This applies to Tweets that are published to Twitter at the same time, or are scheduled/queued for future publication.
• Instead of posting identical content to all profiles, try Retweeting content from one original source to your other accounts. Do not go overboard with this, however. Bulk, aggressive, or very high-volume automated Retweeting is prohibited and may be subject to enforcement actions.
• Simultaneously Liking, Retweeting, or following from multiple accounts is also prohibited under the update. No longer should you select several accounts to follow a specified account.
• Now, this one is interesting: The automated posting/scheduling of identical or substantially similar content, or Liking or Retweeting, across many accounts from your SOCi dashboard is not permitted. Coordinating activity across multiple accounts to simultaneously post Tweets with a specific hashtag (e.g. in an attempt to cause that topic to trend) is also prohibited.

Basically, Twitter wants to regain its foothold as an authentic and credible source for people to find content relevant to them, the news they need from valid sources, and cut down on the noise created from duplicative content that is running so rampant, they had to implement this change.

What does the 2018 Twitter Update Mean for SOCi Users?

Posting relevant and authentic content to each of your location profiles is now more important than ever. This update ushers in a new age of social media monitoring, as platforms become more sophisticated in security measures.  I know it’s easy to say, especially in the marketing world, “Shoot first, ask questions later.” However, in this case, it’s best to be safe versus sorry.

So how you make sure your content is duplicative and authentic to all locations?

While this will take some more time investment on your part, SOCi’s Content Discovery center should be your best friend. This will help you find relevant and engaging content for use across all of your locations. See how it works for yourself if you aren’t 100% familiar with it already.

And of course, as social media platforms continue to update their algorithms, security policies, publishing requirements, etc., the team at SOCi is here to help you navigate these new waters. If you have any additional questions regarding this update, whether you’re a SOCi user or not, shoot us a note! We’re here to chat when you need.