Twitter is slowly starting to grow. Now that Fortune 500 companies are recruiting on Twitter and social networking sites like LinkedIn and search engines like Google and Bing are partnering with them, it was only a matter of time before Twitter took steps to root out spam like and those who are using their real-time communication platform to broadcast rather than share. And it fundamentally changes the way many in marketing will use Twitter moving forward. If you haven’t searched for yourself or your company on it recently, you might want to confirm that your tweets are showing up in search results. If not, here are the reasons why your Twitter account may currently be temporarily “restricted” without you knowing:
1) Repeated posting of duplicated or nearly duplicated content (links or tweets)
As a micro-blogging platform, why would you ever need to repeat yourself in your tweets? You will be surprised: you may want to introduce everyone to your company, product or blog, and you want to do this more than once. For example, I would often make a new blog post the day after I first tweeted about it, because not everyone might have caught it the first time. Guy Kawasaki posted a famous blog post about this titled “How to Drive Traffic with Repeat Tweets”. In this fantastic analytics article, Guy shows how repeating a tweet can get you significant additional traffic. The analysis is simple: not everyone is looking at Twitter all the time, so by repeating your tweet you increase the chances of getting noticed. Twitter thinks otherwise: Post repeated tweets or repeat links and your tweets will no longer appear in search results. You won’t even notice it happened until you try searching for your tweets.
2) Abuse of trending topics or hashtags (topic words with the # sign)
HabitatUK comes to mind as the famous story of a company abusing trending topic hashtags that ended in their official apology. You don’t want your Twitter to go viral either. Whenever you put a hashtag at the end of your tweet, be warned that Twitter is watching to make sure you’re classifying your tweet correctly. Don’t try to cheat the system to get found… or you won’t be found again!
3) Sending automated tweets or replies
If you are using a third-party software application or service to send tweets or automated replies, beware, you are being watched! If social media is about being authentic and transparent, it leaves no room for automation, no matter how badly you want to get the message out. And if you’re thinking of doing some guerilla marketing by sending automated replies, your days are numbered…
4) Using bots or apps to post similar messages based on keywords
There are sophisticated services that allow you to post messages based on keywords that appear on your Twitter timeline. As sophisticated and attractive as these services are to some internet marketers, Twitter is even more sophisticated to find you!
5) Posting similar messages to multiple accounts
If you have multiple accounts and are trying to market or broadcast the same message from multiple angles, please stop. If you don’t stop, you will be forced to stop!
If you don’t know what that looks like, check this out:
6) Aggressively following and unfollowing people
I’m assuming that’s why most people have their Twitter account restricted. I don’t think an explanation is needed here, but Twitter has its own limits on how many people you can follow in a day. Additionally, if you “aggressively” unfollow people to follow more people, Twitter will limit your account. “Aggressively” is an abstract term, so as long as you follow and unfollow periodically, I assume you won’t have any problems here.
The above 6 reasons why your account might be limited are not issues I made up: they actually come straight from the Twitter Support article on Best Practices. Twitter is definitely getting serious about the “quality” of Tweets, and if you’re not as serious, you’ll be dropped from search results and lose the benefits of being able to use the service in real time.
The common thread to all of the above is simply being “natural”. If you use Twitter in a real and authentic way without relying heavily on third-party apps or tools, you should be fine If you use any program to fully automate your activities, use with caution!
Have any of you faced these limitations before? Did your Tweets come up when you searched for your name? Please comment below.
Looking for some Twitter marketing tips? Check out these posts!
Photo by Jørgen Håland on Unsplash
Limited Twitter Account FAQ
The duration of a restriction on a Twitter account varies depending on the offense committed. When you see the error message that says your account is limited or some features are limited, it will indicate how long it will take to regain full functionality. But usually, it can take from 12 hours to 7 days. Restrictions are designed to control abuse, so be sure to check and comply Twitter Rules to prevent account restrictions.
To unrestrict your Twitter account, simply log in and look for the message that says your account has been temporarily restricted. Then click Start button and follow the steps required to regain access. If you are unable to complete the steps, you can also contact their customer service and file an appeal especially if you feel that you have not broken any rules. You can do this in their Help Center.
When your account is suspended, you will receive an email notification explaining why or what you violated. The only way to cancel a Twitter account is to file an appeal and fill out the form to file a ticket. You need to convince them and explain well why you think your account should not be suspended or else your appeal will be rejected. Once rejected, your account suspension will be permanent.
To get your restricted Twitter back, you must first determine the nature of the restriction. Typically, Twitter will tell you which specific content, tweet or activity is against the Twitter Rules. To regain access, simply log in to your app or website and find the message indicating that your account or some of your features are locked. You will then see instructions on how to restore your account and simply follow the steps.
When a Twitter account is restricted, you will either temporarily not have access to your entire account or some features may be temporarily disabled. For example, you won’t be able to post a tweet, retweet, or like a tweet. There are several reasons why your account may be limited. It could be due to aggressive behavior or spam, posting duplicate content, or maybe Twitter detected a possible hack on your account.
