EVERYONE is on social networking sites these days. Now the Pentagon has put out its guidelines for Twitter and Facebook and the like I imagine it won’t be long before we see “SGT. Joe is being an Army of One, Are you being all YOU can be?” So Corporate America needs to get its shi- act together and start tweeting, right? Maybe. There’s enough ads on there already so if all you’re going to do is send me more then I’ll just reject you and move on with my life. On the other hand if you can play nice be a part of the community then maybe I can make room in my inbox for your company. To that end we present the Laws of Career Tweeting.

1) Don’t waste space. Say what you have to say in your 140 characters and leave the deathless prose for your mailers and traditional ads.

2) Give credit where credit is due. When something cool comes along, even if you or your company didn’t come up with it, let us know. We’re much more likely to listen when you do come with something.

3) Be willing to take a position, even if it could generate criticism. I want to know who I’m dealing with. Even if I don’t I agree with him I can respect him and we can do business. Don’t be a faceless company, that’s the opposite of what social media are for.

4) Listen to and engage with others. Some of those others are going to be people you’d rather not deal with like employees or protesters, but it’s an online community living there means getting along with the neighbors.

5) Don’t waste time. It’s bad enough when someone I know and like tweets about his coffee, if a company exec that friended me through Mafia Wars does it I’m going to take him of my list. We also don’t care about your silly company achievements. Even my mom doesn’t bother to tell me every time she gets plaque.

6) Read what’s coming in. This is part of being a good neighbor, you aren’t just shouting into the ether you’re having a conversation. Read people’s responses and send the good/clever/funny/interesting ones back out, that inclines us to follow you and to talk back to you.

7) Don’t brag about your following, no matter how large. Not in a press release, not in a speech especially not in a tweet. We don’t care and we’ll feel betrayed.

8) Spread the bad news as well as the good. If you tell us how great your products are then you need to tell us when there’s a recall. Keeping the public informed is not the same as blowing sunshine.

So, think you can do it? Then I look forward to following you.