No Twitter guidelines can be carved in stone. The site is still new to a lot of people, it hosts a very wide array of users, and it evolves quickly. But here are four ways you can project a more professional image on Twitter:

1. Ask yourself if a tweet is the right format for your message. It’s crucial in all business writing to save your readers time. Concise writing is mandatory on Twitter, and some messages just don’t fit naturally within the site’s 140-character limit.

So step back if you find yourself struggling too hard to stay inside the character limit, or if what you have to say just doesn’t fit in that short a format. Instead, try turning your message into a blog post or a page on your website, and then post a tweet including a link and just stating your topic – e.g., “Check out http://bit.ly/AAAAAA for my thoughts on the experts’ panel on HTML5 at last week’s conference.”

2. Use active language and contractions to keep your tweets short. Twitter’s a casual place. Its informality makes it natural to use contractions like “they’re” and “it’s,” even if you’re writing about your business. An apostrophe saves you at least one space and one letter. (If you could use a refresher course on the its/it’s and they’re/their differences, see our book Professional Writing Skills: A Write It Well Guide.)

You can also save space in tweets by avoiding passive language – e.g., by tweeting “The committee will announce the winners tomorrow” rather than “An announcement of the winners will be made by the committee tomorrow.” With spaces and a period, that second statement has 70 characters. The first only has 49. The active language saves space, saves readers time, and also sounds more dynamic.

3. Give your readers all the information they need. Whether you’re writing a tweet or some text for your website, put yourself in your readers’ shoes and ask yourself if they’ll have enough context to follow your idea.

How much context is enough? That depends on your message and your audience. The important points are to remember that your tweets are visible to the public, and not to sacrifice clarity any time you whittle down your tweet to 140 characters.

4. Be casual, but come down on the side of standard English. The New York Times cautioned in an article in April that a “small but vocal subculture has emerged on Twitter of grammar and taste vigilantes who spend their time policing other people’s tweets – celebrities and nobodies alike.” These people target and publicize “tweets with typos or flawed grammar, or written in ALLCAPS.” So sloppy language in a tweet can be risky. And maintaining standard spelling and punctuation on Twitter can help you stand out in a good way.

Twitter works best when you balance careful writing and informality. It’s always fine to type an ampersand (&) instead of “and,” and someone breezing through Twitter may prefer “info” to the long word “information.” But it’s risky to use more nonstandard spellings. Some people have a pet peeve against the spelling “tomorrow nite” (while “tomorrow night” is only one character longer), and some readers will simply be confused if you tweet “I can’t w8!” instead of “I can’t wait!” The safest rule of thumb for tweeting is to balance standard English with a casual tone.

If you’d like more information about Twitter, stay tuned! Later in June, we’ll post a free PDF on writeitwell.com with more tips on tweeting. We’ll include a list of exemplary tweets and resources. We’ll also explain how four different kinds of recommendations provide a handy structure for your tweets if you’d like to try Twitter, but aren’t sure what to say.

Our book Professional Writing Skills: A Write It Well Guide includes sections on determining your message, using concise language, using apostrophes and other punctuation correctly, and writing effective e-mail. Whether your format is 140 characters or 140 pages, our book can help you maintain a professional image for all your business writing.