This summer Twitter introduced a raft of 'slight' amendments which have had a significant impact on the way developers and users intereact.  This article will cover a couple of the Anti Spam rules introduced by the Twitter team namely the 1000 follows per day and 2000 Follows per account limitations.

In defenceof Twitter these limits were placed upon the accounts to prevent SPAM.  However to some developers and hard core Tweeters this has put a major crimp in thier Twitter usage.  Particularly as there was no prior notification that  these changes were to take place.  However, onto the explanation of these two rules:

1000 Follows per day

This one should really be self explanatory - however here we go.  As a large number of automated 'bots' were following masses of users each and every day it was taking up resources that could otherwise be used for meaninful twitter interaction.  

So Twitter has imposed a limit of 1000 new follows per account each day.  Quite why someone would want to follow over a thousand new people a day and expect to have meaningful interaction with them is beyond me.   However a fair few people are out there who simply want to become twitter 'whales'.  A whale is a person with a massive following, @TheEllenShow is a prime example, with over 3.6 millions followers, so poor Ellen is now officially a Whale...

To gain a high number of followers, meaningful or otherwise, there were human users who simply followed everyone they could find in a bid to boost thier own egos* ahem... I mean followers.

So whilst 'normal'and I use the term losely users of Twitter will not be impacted by this the Whales and egomanics ;0) will find this new rule a problem.

Maximum of 2000 Follows

This rule is slightly more complex as apparently there is an element of maths to the rule - fret ye not it is not trig but it can be confusing... so here's my attempt at an explanation.

If the ratio of follower to those you follow is not roughly 1:1 when you reach 2000 people you want to follow you will not be able to follow anyone new.

An example...

Bob has 1999 followers and is following 1999 - he will be 'allowed' to follow 3 new people today.

Sue has 158 followers and is following 1999 - she will only be 'allowed' to follow 1 new person until her ratio of followers to followed evens out.  This means that Sue has to become interesting enough to be followed by roughly 1840 new people before she can follow anyone new.  (There is apparently a grace state of 180 users difference between followed and followers around the 2000 mark)

Of course this means that people are becoming either far stricter about those they follow or defaulting to following everyone back who follows them.   As a result this new 2000 follows capping may not have had the effect twitter was hoping for, with users culling people from their lists to bring the ratio into an even state then automatically following everyone.

Over time we will see the effects this is having on the use and responsiveness of the twitter service. If you are interested you can read the official Twitter explanation of the Follower limitations here...