Like most social technology sites in worldwide use today, companies big and small are scrambling to convert Twitter from a simple networking tool to a legitimate way of increasing revenues and decreasing costs. Unfortunately, most of these businesses are learning just enough about Twitter to be dangerous. And annoying. And in some cases, unethical.

Although many of us would love to see each new Twitter account issued with a comprehensive user guide and rulebook, the fact is Twitter users can pretty much do whatever the want. Because of this complete lack of standardization (other than the 140-character limit on tweets) businesses across the globe are using Twitter to annoy potential customers at record rates—faster than they ever could have hoped to annoy them through other, more traditional marketing channels such as direct mail and direct email.

With the above in mind, here are five rules that should NEVER be broken by people trying to use Twitter for business purposes. This article is not written for pyramid schemers, get-rich-quick experts, professional traffic whores, or the kid from Amsterdam trying to find a million Twitter followers before the end of the year. This post is designed to help people who run REAL small companies figure out how to use Twitter—a simple, yet complicated micro blogging technology—to gain a market advantage.

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