You may have heard about the recent PR boo-boo from Redner who tweeted on behalf of publisher 2k, saying it would punish bad reviews of  the game ‘Duke Nukem Forever’ by withholding future releases from reviewers.

Obviously, not a good move and the PR company have now been fired.

This is not the first, or won't be the last, time a company or person has made the mistake of tweeting before thinking.

Anthony Weiner, American Congressman, didn't realise the difference between DM and @ and sent some dodgy copy and pics to the whole world. 

Then there are company's, such as Habitat, who don't really understand how Twitter works and will take every trend hashtag to promote themselves but then make themselves look stupid by tweeting about Habitat deals alongside the Iranian elections!

Of course, most of these massive brands are not tweeting themselves but using PR agencies or leaving the feed in the interns hands and not taking responsibility for Twitter.

It is a powerful tool - and needs to be used in the correct way.

Here are a few tips to make sure you don't fail. 

Don't be desperate

Try not to let your Following count get more than 10 percent higher than your Followers count - you need to be patient, you want followers who are interested in what you do, not just ones who follow back.

Talk the right amount about the right stuff

No one wants their feed to be taken over by one of their followers - think about what you will say and when you will say it. Also, don't just talk about yourself, yes you want everyone to know how awesome you and your company are, but make people interact by offering them hints, tips, advice or interesting news and engaging with them.

Make a routine

Use searches to find out what people are saying about you, reply to mentions, read tweets from those you are following and interact - Twitter needs to be on your mind (or whoever is in charge of your social media) at least a couple of times a day to have a chance of helping your business.