What do the new Twitter terms and conditions mean for brands and PR?

You might be aware that Twitter recently updated its terms and conditions, so we thought it was worth highlighting what these changes might mean for brands that use the micro-blogging site.

Advertising

Although no specific announcement has been made regarding advertising, the new terms make it clear that Twitter is seriously considering using adverts to generate revenue. Clearly, this will have an effect on organisations which use Twitter as a PR and marketing channel – the main implication being that they could end up with adverts on their pages that they have absolutely no control over.

We suspect what will happen is that Twitter will roll out advertising at the same time as paid-for ad-free accounts to kill two birds with one stone, since no business would want to allow third party adverts on its page, least of all if it had no say over what those adverts will be.

Content Ownership

Twitter makes it clear that publishers still own the copyright of their tweets, but by publishing them on Twitter they allow the company rights to distribute that content through its websites and API. There’s very little to worry about here, Twitter isn’t about to start doing nasty things with people’s content, since that would immediately scare away all of the business users which are most likely to contribute to its future revenues.

One potential issue in this area is that the content is published to the API which third party developers can then use for any number of things. At the moment there’s nothing bad happening in that space, but it’s worth keeping an open mind about what unscrupulous people might use the content for in future – although it’s safe to assume that Twitter will quickly block access to anybody who’s using the API for illegal/spammy behaviour.

UPDATE: Netimperative reports that Twitter has ruled out introducing advertising this year.

Latest Posts

Everyone said Threads was just another desperate attempt by Meta to copy Twitter – and, well – they were right. But two years down the line and Threads is slowly building its own case…for itself, and against its rivals X and Bluesky. In July 2023, Threads emerged gaining 2 million…
Read More
AI is accelerating. Reels are rising. And your content plan deserves better than guesswork. I know you’re busy. You’re juggling campaign deadlines before summer, trying to keep pace with platform changes, and just when you thought you had the hang of it – eek! Social moves…
Read More
If you’re creating social media content regularly, you know how chaotic things can get. Endless campaigns, shifting priorities, last-minute changes… It’s a lot. That’s why design templates are more than a convenience; they’re a strategic foundation for marketing on social. Done right, they can boost consistency, save hours, and improve…
Read More