Submitted Jan 14 in Getting Started
Welcome to Twitter Support. The Twitter support team is here to help you solve your problems and find answers to your questions. Who are we? Caroline, Mark, Del, and Crystal- follow us on Twitter, we're here to help!
Twitter's help resources are always accessible in the sidebar of your Support home page. We've got the basics but we're adding more! If there is something you'd like to see that's not here yet, log in and submit a feature request! We'd love to hear your feedback about making help as helpful as possible.
Coming soon: Known Issues You'll be able to check the status of known or ongoing Twitter issues
All in one help: Before, our help resources were all over the place. Now, they're all in one place. Use search to find what you need, or browse our help articles. Find out about known problems, how to report problems, submit and check on requests, all from your Support home page. Just enter your Twitter user name and password to get started!
Important Announcements: When you click Help from the Twitter website, you'll be taken to your Twitter Support home page. The home page will always have the latest announcements and updates from the Support team.
Ticket Accessibility and History: Twitter's new Support home gives you access to your requests in one place. You can submit a new request, check on existing requests, and even see closed requests. All of your support requests are linked to your Twitter account, so we have a working account history for every person who has submitted a request for help. This means we always know what's going on with your account, and you only need to submit one request for help.
Support Groups: Twitter Support is divided into groups to resolve requests as quickly as possible. Our Terms of Service, Spam group, and Support groups provide specialized support for each category of requests to give you fast answers when you need them.
Twitter Terms of Service and Rules Policies: To clear up confusion about what's ok and not ok on Twitter, we've introduced the Twitter Rules. Finding out what to do in cases of Terms of Service or Spam violations just got easier. Check it out!
Submitted Nov 13, 2008 in Trouble Shooting
Twitter suspends account for suspicious activity. Suspended accounts are researched by our Spam/Abuse or Support team. One or more of these things may cause an account to be suspended:
Publishing, posting or sending unsolicited email, junk mail, “spam”, chain letters, promotions, or advertisements for products or services (except where expressly permitted) is against the Terms of Service. Commercial or promotional use of Twitter is allowed, and we do welcome feed-based accounts. Many companies create valuable, opt-in relationships with people on Twitter. It's important to us, however, that the Twitter community receives only the content they'd like to receive. The following behaviors may cause an account to get flagged for spam investigation and/or suspension:
If one or more the items listed above is true for any Twitter profile, we may suspend the account for abuse investigation and hide the contents from the public view in order to remove the cause of complaint. If you think you've been wrongly suspended, please send an email to suspended@twitter.com with the user name and reason why the account shouldn't be suspended.
As stated in the Terms of Service, Twitter reserves the right to immediately terminate accounts without further notice if the account is in violation of the Terms of Service. If your account is suspended however, we're most likely researching an issue with the account. If this is the case, you'll most likely have heard from our Support team. The following problems fall under Terms of Service violations:
Send all non-copyright Terms of Service complaints to terms@twitter.com.
Contact terms@twitter.com for questions or complaints regarding the Terms of Service. Contact suspended@twitter.com if your account has been suspended.
Submitted Nov 06, 2008 in Getting Started
ON: turns ALL phone notifications on.
LEAVE username: this command allows you to stop receiving notifications for a specific person on your phone. Example: leave benfu
Submitted Nov 06, 2008 in Getting Started
Twitter is a new kind of technology that uses multiple methods of communication to help keep you in touch with people you care about. Using Twitter with your phone will change the feel of Twitter for you. Not only can you receive text messages when people you've specified update, you can also send updates to Twitter while you're on the go, even if you don't receive messages from others. These are some of the most frequently asked questions about using Twitter with your mobile phone.
Do I have to use my phone to use Twitter?
Nope. You can send twitter updates from the Twitter website or from our mobile website, m.twitter.com. You can also check out the apps page to see other popular ways people use Twitter.
Twitter charges you nothing, but how much it costs to use Twitter with text messaging depends on your text messaging plan. Standard text messaging rates (such as international text messaging fees) do apply. Consult your service provider to ensure that your text plan covers your Twitter usage. If you're using our international number, give your provider the Twitter phone number you'll be using to see if you'll incur extra charges. If you're using Twitter from outside of the US, please consult your carrier, as every provider has a different policy.
No. Twitter doesn't charge your phone bill. Sending and receiving messages to Twitter is like sending to a regular number. Usage charges for text messaging are applied by your carrier and depend on your SMS plan. Some people pay a per-message charge of ten cents or more. Some people have an allotted number of text messages monthly. Some (lucky!) people have unlimited text plans. We must caution: Twitter can become highly addictive, so make sure that your texting habits and your text plan are compatible.
Think of Twitter as a single contact who sends all of the messages from your friends. Twitter uses your number to send web updates to your phone in text message format. Your number is private; Twitter never reveals phone number information.
We currently have two short codes and three long codes for those who twitter internationally.
For all people using international numbers: once your phone is verified, you'll be able to send your updates to Twitter, but you will not be able to receive text updates from Twitter. Find out more on the Twitter Blog.
Short codes are numbers made specifically for SMS (text) messages. Twitter uses various short codes to send and receive your updates. Sending a text message to a short code is just like sending a text message to a phone number. Short codes are made specifically for text messaging, so you can't send an email to a short code, or call a short code. Charges for using our short codes are the same as standard text messaging rates to full-length phone numbers. Long codes are also text only, but they're the length of a standard phone number instead of being shortened.
If you're not in the US, Canada, Germany, or Sweden use the international long code instead: +44 7624 801423. If you're using this number you will be able to send messages to Twitter, but you will not be able to receive them.
A word of caution for those using the international number: some carriers don't charge an international fee to use the Twitter international number. Others consider it an international number and charge from .15 to .25 per message, even within the UK. Remember to check your phone plan for international rates; be aware that even in the UK, standard messaging rates vary by carrier, and do apply.
How do I add my phone to Twitter?
Add your phone to your account in your Twitter settings. Once you've added your phone to Twitter, just send the verification code in a text message to the Twitter phone number assigned to you in your settings page. Once your phone is verified, send Twitter a text message and we'll post it to your profile page and send it to your followers. (Find out more cool things you can do with your phone here!)
How do I add my international number?
Twitter accesses international numbers from the US. This means that it's important to include '+' and your country code with your complete number in order for us to recognize it properly. Our international number is a good example; it's formatted like this: +44 7624 801423. Note: when adding a country code to your number in some countries, you must drop the leading zero.
No. You can only use one phone number for one account.
If I change my phone number, can I change it on Twitter?
Yes. To add a new number, just delete your current number from the settings page, and add your new number. (You'll need to verify your new phone number before using it.)
How long can my updates be?
We have a 140 character limit on Twitter updates. If your update is longer than that, the full update will post to the web where it can be viewed in its entirety. We'll still send the truncated version: only the first 140 characters will go to phones.
Send a direct message to anyone on Twitter using the direct message comman, d + username, like this: d krissy message goes here
Make sure to use the user name (found in the profile URL) and not the real name, or it will post to the public timeline, or go to someone else!
Yes. As long as you've verified your phone, you can send updates to Twitter even if all notifications are off. Make sure to set your updates to OFF on the web, or send OFF from your phone. People using +44 7624 801423 will always be able to send messages, but will not be able to receive them.
Yes. Set up text preferences for people you follow from the drop down 'following' box on the profile page.
To get a person's updates on your phone, use the commands FOLLOW or ON + username, like this: follow caroline, on caroline
To turn updates off again, send LEAVE or OFF + username, like this. leave crystal, off crystal
You can change notification preferences from the profile pages of everyone you follow.
You don't. But, if they are on your followers list, they will always receive your updates on the web.
To stop getting Twitter updates, send OFF, STOP, or QUIT from your phone at anytime. We will send you a final message confirming that your phone notifications are off. Sending ON will turn them back on.
Is there a setting for receiving only @replies on my phone?
Nope. But if we get enough feature requests, we may just add it for you. Send us one!
Yep! You can set this up in your device settings page. When you send OFF once, Twitter messages will turn off but direct messages will be on. When you send OFF twice, everything will be off. You can also set up email preferences for direct message notifications.
Yes. You will receive direct messages if you send OFF only once; to disable direct messages, send OFF twice or change the settings in the device settings page. You will always receive a copy of your message on your web archive, and in your email if you set it up in your preferences.
A nudge is a friendly reminder to update Twitter. Friends can nudge you (and you them) by sending nudge + username to Twitter, like this: nudge mhegge
Yes. if you receive an update that you'd like to mark as favorite, reply to the update with FAV + username, like this: fav delbius
Stop getting updates from some friends without stopping all updates from all friends. The easiest way to do this is to change text preferences on the web from the person's profile page. You can also use the leave or OFF command. Text OFF + username or LEAVE + username to stop getting messages from a specific person, like this: leave bs
Make sure you're using the username, and not just the screen name. (Find the user name by going to the person's profile and looking in the URL at top.)
Submitted Nov 04, 2008 in Getting Started
Twitter is a service for friends, family, and co–workers to communicate and stay connected through the exchange of quick, frequent messages. People write short updates, often called "tweets" of 140 characters or fewer. These messages are posted to your profile or your blog, sent to your followers, and are searchable on Twitter search.
All you need to use Twitter is an internet connection or a mobile phone. Join us here! Once you're in, type your first update into the web box. To get an idea of what other people are saying or doing on Twitter, check out Twitter search to see what Twitter's all about. You can search by keyword or just check out the trending topics to what's hot on Twitter right now.
When you create an account, you can search for people by name or user name, import friends from other networks, or invite friends via email. If you don't want to do that, follow some of the people we've suggested. Once you've found your friends, follow them to start getting their updates.
Following someone simply means receiving their Twitter updates. When you follow someone, every time they post a new message, it will appear in your Twitter home page. New messages are added to your home page as people post them, so you always get the updates in real time. When you log in, you can see what the latest updates are. Twitter offers other ways to follow people too: you can get updates from certain people on your phone!
After you click the follow button on someone's profile, you're following them. The follow button will change to a box that says "Following" with a drop down option to remove a person if you want to. If you've registered your phone with Twitter, you can set up text preferences for a person as well. See a list of people you're following by clicking on the following link on your profile or your home page's sidebar.
Twitter sends you an email when someone new follows you. Set up your email preferences to notify you when you have a new follower. The followers link on your profile page or home page's sidebar will also tell you how many followers you have.
Twitter recently added follow and update limits for stability and abuse control. You can read more about this here.
Who reads my updates?
It's up to you. Your followers read your updates, and anyone else who comes across them in a search. All public updates are posted to the public timeline (accessible from your home page in the Everyone tab.) Your Twitter profile is public by default; if you're hesitant to have strangers read your updates, protect your profile to approve followers and keep your updates out of search.
Can I block people from following me?
Yes, you can. If you block someone, they wont be able to follow you or send you any messages. If your account is public, they'll still be able to view it, but they wont show up on your followers list, and you wont be on their following list. If it's a spammer you're blocking, thanks! Twitter Support keeps an eye on block reports to see who's getting in trouble on Twitter.
Twitter offers many ways to post updates: from the web in the update box, from your phone, from your mobile web browser using m.twitter.com, or from any third party application made by the talented folks who've utilized our API. The star is a way for you to mark an update as favorite. People can view your favorites, and you theirs, by clicking on the Favorites link in the profile page.
Yep! Put a Twitter badge on your blog, website, MySpace... anything that accepts Javascript or HTML. You can even customize your Twitter badge to match!
How can I send updates to Twitter?
Why is there a star at the end of updates?
Can I put my Twitter updates on my blog?
What are @Replies?
An @reply is a public message sent from one person to another, distinguished from normal updates by the @username prefix. If a message begins with @username, we collect it as a reply and post it in the replies tab. Reply publicly to any update on Twitter by using the @username format. Following is not necessary to reply to someone, and all of your replies are visible in the replies tab of your home page sidebar.
Direct messages are private messages sent from one Twitter person to another. You can only send a direct message to a person who follows you. When you receive a direct message, we save it in your direct message inbox, accessible from the Direct Message tab in the sidebar in your home page. Set your email preferences to notify you by mail if you have a new message.
An @reply is a public message sent regardless of follow-ship that anyone can view. A direct message can only be sent by someone you follow, and is a private message that only the author and recipient can view.
The @replies RSS feed requires authentication; most web-based feed readers don't support authentication. If yours doesn't, you wont be able to see your @replies via rss feed. Try the feed in a desktop feed reader, which usually supports authentication.
Yes, complete with documentation and an active developer group to help you with common API questions. You can find it at the bottom of your logged-in homepage, here.
Send a request to white list your application from the API Wiki, here.
Does Twitter allow html in web updates?
No. We escape all html for security purposes. However, if you paste in a link that is less than 30 characters, we'll post it in its entirety. If it's longer than 30 characters, we'll convert it to a shorter URL.
How do I report spam?
Report spam by following Twitter's spam account, and sending us a direct message. We'll look into it right away!
Accounts are suspended for Terms of Service violations or spam investigation. Read more about this here.
Twitter's Terms of Service is posted on the site, and the Twitter Rules are posted in the Support home page. Check out Twitter's Terms of Service and Rules policies here. Review our Terms of Service section to find out what constitutes a violation, and how to go about fixing a related problem.
Where can I find out more information about Twitter's Terms of Service?
How do I submit a complaint about copyright, impersonation, trademark, or other Terms of Service issues?
What is Get Satisfaction?
Get Satisfaction is a great site that people use to help each other figure out problems on Twitter. They call is "people powered customer service" because people are helping are there, helping each other out. If you're looking for help using Twitter from other Twitter users, this is a great resource.
Yes. Check the Twitter Status Blog, or follow @twitter. We'll also have a known issues page in the Support home page soon.
Still wondering about something? Check out our help resources for more information!