Twitter usage - how to be more professional

I've recently written an article giving some top tips for Twitter users. You can view the article here:
http://www.freshbusinessthinking.com/business_advice.php?AID=8590&Title=Top+Tips+On+Tweeting

Its quite surprising for me to see so many regular users of Twitter still doing some pretty basic or incorrect stuff and not making the most of their precious 140 characters. There's some obvious question to ask, for example:

• Why don't people shorten their URL's to make the most effective use of their posts (and to measure click throughs)
• Why are hashtags not used more regularly?
• Why aren't more posts repeated if they are important?
• Why do so many postings still have spelling mistakes in them?

Just because Twitter is an informal social media channel, it doesn't have to be used unprofessionally.

Hashtag hijacking

Using hashtags on Twitter (using # before a keyword to show your subject, allowing others to follow) is extremely useful.
For example following the stream of collective opinion on last night's BBC Question Time was both amusing and insightful. (#bbcqt)
However today when searching subsequent views on the programme, there are now a whole host of unrelated sales messages using the same hash tag. Obviously realising that those following this important subject on Twitter may be influential decision makers, spam accounts have decided to invade this subject for gain.

Take out:

• Organisers- create a topical hashtag for your important event, but expect to use another for your next one
• Followers - follow a hashtag, but don't expect the same quality of tweets in the morning
• Twitter - please find some way of stopping this or see the decline in the usefulness of hashtags