The U.S. Department of Defense has a social media policy, and yet seven out of 10 American companies – and nearly eight out of 10 British firms – do not. With that in mind, I decided to update something I wrote last spring for companies executives pondering a Twitter strategy.

Should the company be Tweeting? Only if it can live up to these 10 (erm, now 11) Commandments:

1. We can articulate the company vision in 140 characters or less, minus PR puffery and cliché.
2. We are willing to give credit to cool, innovative or though-provoking ideas, even if coined by someone else.
3. We are willing to challenge a potentially destructive position even if our position generates criticism.
4. We are willing to listen to and engage with others, even if “others” = employees, customers or activists.
5. We will not get carried away, never Tweeting about a fresh “cuppa,” or worse, some banal corporate achievement.
6. We will dedicate time each week to reading what others have to say and promise to re-tweet (“RT”) the most clever, valuable, and even humorous.
7. We will never include in a press release, speech or annual report our “Twitter followers” figure no matter how tempting.
8. We actually have something meaningful to say.
9. If we don’t have something to say, we’ll find the person in the organisation best suited for speaking/tweeting on behalf of the company.
10. If we cannot live up to these commandments we will reflect on whether corporate marketing is the right role for us.
11. We will use our Twitter channel not just to bump out cheery news, but to keep customers informed in the event of bad news (i.e., a product recall, a hostile take-over, a PR crisis) too.

Part of this list originally appeared in a Financial Times column I was asked to contribute to.