Attention all Twitter users; there has been massive changes made to the Twitter algorithm and they could affect you if you manage multiple accounts.
This can also affect you if you are using any form of automation – including apps.
So the changes to the algorithm mean that you can no longer post identical, or even substantially similar, content from multiple accounts.
Also you can no longer simultaneously like, tweet or follow from multiple accounts.
This could be bad news for users of TweetDeck.
On the Twitter blog, Yoel Roth from the Twitter’s API Policy and Product Trust team said:
Posting duplicative or substantially similar content, replies, or mentions over multiple accounts you control, or creating duplicate or substantially similar accounts, with or without the use of automation, is never allowed.
Posting multiple updates (on a single account or across multiple accounts you control) to a trending or popular topic (for instance, through the use of a specific hashtag) with an intent to subvert or manipulate the topic, or to artificially inflate the prominence of a hashtag or topic, is never allowed.
As an alternative to posting identical content, you can Retweet content from one account from the other accounts you wish to share that post from. This should only be done from a small number of distinct accounts that you directly control. Please note that bulk, aggressive, or very high-volume automated Retweeting is not permitted under the Automation Rules, and may be subject to enforcement actions.
Obviously this algorithm update will do more to prevent spammers – and that’s a pretty good thing in my opinion.
But will legitimate digital marketers get caught in the crossfire?
Twitter’s intentions are in the right place but will it manifest in reality or will we see a whole heap of legitimate marketers and content creators punished as a result?
Only time will tell but I’ve got my fingers crossed and I’m optimistic that this is going to improve the platform in a fairly big way.