How to write guidelines for Twitter?

I’ve been asked to prepare a set of guidelines for Twitter by a company I used to work for in Sacramento.

They’re a well-established financial services firm and are struggling to get a handle on how best to approach this.

What’s the balance between allowing employees to use it as their discretion while also protecting the company from legal issues and other possible negative fallout if/when an employee rants or discusses company business on Twitter? I should stress that they want their employees to use Twitter (within reason) but are a bit nervous. Remember they want to create guidelines – not rules.

To get things started, I gathered some examples of what other companies have setup regarding Twitter and Social Media usage.

Here are a few links I sent to the Sales/HR people.

Mosman Council Twitter Guidelines

http://laurelpapworth.com/australia-mosman-council-twitter-guidelines

Guidelines For Brands Using Twitter

darmano.typepad.com/logic_emotion/2008/08/guidelines-for.html

11 Twitter Guidelines

http://www.seanbohan.com/2009/03/13/my-11-twitter-guidelines/

Twitter Guidelines

http://www.onlinecommunityconsultation.com/2009/05/twitter-guidelines.html

Twitter Guidelines

An example of Twitter Guidelines: Washington State University (Vancouver)