Is it acceptable to promote your own stuff in social media? Cities and corporations are doing it, and individuals as well. Journos advertise their stories, consultants their slides, bloggers their posts, authors their new books. Does this suit readers, or does it irritate them? I asked about this on Twitter last Friday and got answers from some twenty active tweeters. The most common view was that you can do this one time, such as to tell people about a new article, and you can repeat the mention if the topic comes up again. A few respondents did advocate zero tolerance; a few would allow multiple repetitions. Language that’s straight-out advertising seems to lower tolerance, while an informative tone increases it. The best option is, of course, when someone else recommends your story, or retweets your message—but not if it’s always the same minion faithfully chirping ”Great story, @celebrity, @buyer, @critic.” We don’t need unbending rules here, but it’s worth talking about the way we’re perceived. Each tweeter chooses his own standards and also the people whose tweets appear in his stream. However, the author should keep in mind that what he sees as informing, others are more likely to see as advertising.