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• Using Twitter
  • Tweets
• Managing your account
  • Login and password
• Safety and security
  • Security and hacked accounts
• Rules and policies
  • Twitter Rules and policies

Twitter is a place to share ideas and information, connect with your communities, and see the world around you. In order to protect the very best parts of that experience, we provide tools designed to help you control what you see and what others can see about you, so that you can express yourself on Twitter with confidence.

We make it easy for you to take action on a Tweet. Tap the icon at the top of any Tweet, right from your Home timeline, to quickly access options like unfollow, mute, block, report, and more.

Twitter just made it easier for you to switch your home time line between the latest tweets and top tweets on your timeline — as long as you’re using an iOS device. Twitter's Abridged Timeline March 2006: Jack Dorsey creates Twitter. On March 21, he publishes the first tweet ever, which says, “ just setting up my twttr.”. We would like to show you a description here but the site won’t allow us.

Unfollow

Unfollowing is the simplest action you can take to stop seeing someone’s Tweets on your Home timeline. You can always follow an account again if you change your mind. You can access this option from the icon in a Tweet.

Read more about how to unfollow people.

Filter Notifications

Your Notifications timeline displays your interactions with other Twitter accounts, such as mentions, likes, Retweets, and who has recently followed you. If you’re receiving unwanted replies or mentions from accounts you do not follow, you can filter the types of notifications you receive.

Read instructions for adjusting your Notifications timeline.

Show less often

When you mark a Tweet as Show less often, it helps Twitter better understand the types of Tweets that you'd like to see less of in your Home timeline. We may use this information to optimize and tailor your experience in the future. You can access this option from the icon in a Tweet.

Mute

Muting another Twitter account means you will not see that account's Tweets in your timeline. It’s a great way to stay connected with friends, even if you aren’t interested in seeing all of their Tweets. Muted accounts are not notified that you’ve muted them, and you will still get notifications when they mention you in Tweets and send you Direct Messages. You can also mute accounts you do not follow so that you don’t see their Tweets in your Notifications timeline.

Muting is different than blocking or unfollowing: Accounts you have muted have no way to tell that you are muting them. You can access this option from the icon in a Tweet.

Read more about muting accounts.

You can also mute Tweets that contain particular words, phrases, usernames, emojis, or hashtags.

Block

When you block an account on Twitter, you restrict that account’s ability to interact with your account. It can be an effective way to handle unwanted interactions from accounts you do not want to engage with.

Accounts you have blocked will not be able to view your Tweets, following or followers lists, likes, or lists when logged in on Twitter, and you will not receive notifications of mentions directly from those accounts. You’ll also stop seeing their Tweets in your timeline.

Blocked account may notice you have blocked them if they try to visit your profile or follow you, but they will not receive any notifications that you have blocked them. You can access this option from the icon in a Tweet.

Read more about blocking accounts.

Report

If you think an account or Tweet is in violation of the Twitter Rules or our Terms of Service, tell us about it by reporting the account or Tweet to us. Some of the violations you can report include: abuse, sensitive media, impersonation, and spam. Submitting a report will take a few steps, but your report will help us make Twitter a better place for everyone. You can access this option from the icon in a Tweet.

Read more what you can report to Twitter.

Control the media you see in Tweets

Your Privacy and safety settings include Tweet media options, if you decide that you want to see a warning over media in Tweets that may contain sensitive content. Your settings default is to provide the warning, but you can change the setting at any time.

Read more about how to control the media you see in Tweets.

Control what others see about you

Protect your Tweets

Protecting your Tweets means your Tweets will only be visible to your followers. With your Tweets protected, you have control of your Twitter experience: every time someone wants to follow your account, you have the choice to accept or decline their request.

Any accounts that were following you before your Tweets were protected will continue to follow you (which means you will not have to approve them again), but you can stop them from following you by blocking them.

Read more about public and protected Tweets.

Photo tagging

Tagging friends in photos can be a great way to stay connected, but you might decide you want your Twitter experience to be more private. You can choose between allowing anyone, just friends, or no one to tag you in photos.

Read about changing your photo tagging settings.

Discoverability

Finding friends and people you care about on Twitter can lead to a great experience, and by using your email address or phone number we can help you easily make those connections.

However, you may prefer to find friends and contacts without our help, and adjusting the setting to keep your account from being discoverable in this way is easy. Read more about discoverability settings and how to change your discoverability.

Sharing your location in Tweets

Twitter lets you select whether to include your location on each individual Tweet. While sharing your location allows your followers to comment and make recommendations on things to do or places to go, there are also risks involved with sharing your location publicly. Since you may not know all your followers, it’s a good idea to be conscious of what you are choosing to share.

Learn more about Tweeting your location. You can also learn more about how to use the location feature on mobile devices.

Media settings

You can flag your own Tweets as possibly containing sensitive media so that other people will see a warning before the media is displayed.

Read more about how to mark the media in your Tweets as containing sensitive content.

Know what information you are providing third-party applications

Other companies have developed applications to broaden your Twitter experience. Before connecting to a third-party application, be sure to visit their website and familiarize yourself with their Terms of Service. Learn more about authorizing and connecting to a third party application.

Fresh off celebrating its 5th birthday in March, Twitter isn't slowing down any time soon. In fact, April turned out to be just as eventful as any for the social media powerhouse.

In April, Twitter introduced a new version of its homepage with a sleeker design and revamped pitch to potential users; expanded its Local Trends feature to 70 more cities and countries; and updated its search tool to make it easier to find new people to follow. Meanwhile, talks about Twitter's future intensified as CNN reported UberMedia — the company behind UberSocial, Echofon and Twidroyd — is 'outlining plans' to develop a Twitter-like competitor. But Twitter users, have no fear — Mashable's Chris Taylor says Twitter 'is a lot more robust — and unrepeatable — than it may seem.'

This month has gotten off to a fast start as Twitter was abuzz on May 1 with speculation and subsequent confirmation of terrorist Osama bin Laden's death. At one point that night, Twitter recorded 5,106 tweets per second, which is the third highest tweets-per-second tally behind only numbers registered during New Year's Eve 2011 in Japan and the destructive tsunami there in March.

Busy two month so far, eh? We think so, which got us interested in finding out how the Twitter activity in April and May stacks up against previous months. So with the help from Mashable's new Explore page, we delved deep into some of the most memorable moments in Twitter's eventful five years of existence.

Twitter's Abridged Timeline

March 2006: Jack Dorsey creates Twitter. On March 21, he publishes the first tweet ever, which says, “just setting up my twttr.”

July 2006: The microblogging service officially launches to the public on July 15. Later this month, co-founder Biz Stone explains what Twitter is in a hilarious video on YouTube.

Twitter Timeline Out Of Order

April 2007: The Twitter service becomes its own company.

March 2008: Twitter turns 2.

October 2008: Dorsey steps down as CEO to assume a less-intensive role as chairman of the board; co-founder Evan Williams replaces Dorsey.

November 2008: Twitter passes 1 billion tweet mark.

My Twitter Timeline

March 2009:Twitter turns 3 on the heels of a Nielsen Online report indicating Twitter grew 1,382% year-over-year.

June 2009: AP Stylebook adds Twitter terms, and concerns over Twitter's flatlining growth emerge.

July 2009: Twitter earns spot in Collins English Dictionary as a noun and a verb.

September 2009: Twitter changes default avatar to a picture of a bird.

October 2009: Twitter passes the 5 billion tweet mark.

January 2010: NASA astronaut T. J. Creamer sends the first unassisted tweet from space aboard the International Space Station.

February 2010: Users start clocking in more than 50 million tweets per day.

March 2010: Twitter turns 4.

April 2010: Twitter’s advertising platform, Promoted Tweets, goes live (see video below).

June 2010: Twitter users set a new record for tweets per second — 3,085 — during Game 7 of the NBA playoffs between the L.A. Lakers and the Boston Celtics. That record was short-lived though, as users broke it later in the month with 3,283 tweets per second at the end of the World Cup match between Japan and Denmark. Twitter rolls out new ads in trending topics section.

July 2010: Twitter search results begin showing people, too. Furthermore, Twitter starts offering personalized suggestions of users to follow with a feature called 'Suggestions for You.'

August 2010: Twitter launches the “Tweet Button,” an official option for web publishers to count retweets and let their readers easily share content (see video below). Twitter surpasses MySpace in number of unique monthly visitors. Between August 2009 and August 2010, Twitter grew 76% to 96 million unique visitors, while MySpace dropped 17% to 94 million.

September 2010: Twitter begins rolling out the new Twitter.com web interface, adding new ways to embed multimedia into the stream (see video below). Twitter changes the default avatar picture to a drawing of an egg.

October 2010: Twitter co-founder Williams steps down as CEO, handing the title over to COO Dick Costolo.

January 2011: eMarketer predicts Twitter will triple its advertising revenue to $150 million in 2011. Twitter users in Japan set a new record for tweets per second — almost 7,000 — in the moments just after the country entered the year 2011. Twitter put together this cool map visualization that shows activity spreading west, from time zone to time zone, as each new region welcomes the new year.

February 2011: Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak steps down amid a groundbreaking digital revolution in which Twitter played a much-debated role. Users, among other methods, put hashtags #Jan25 and #Egypt in their tweets. Rumors swirl about whether Google or Facebook will buy Twitter for as much as $10 billion.

March 2011:Twitter turns 5 and sees the return of Twitter inventor and co-founder Dorsey, who officially comes back to the company as executive chairman. Also, Sharespost values Twitter at $7.7 billion.

April 2011: Twitter introduces a new version of its homepage with a sleeker design and revamped pitch to potential users; expands its Local Trends feature to 70 more cities and countries; and updates its search tool to make it easier to find new people to follow. Talks about Twitter's future intensify as CNN reported UberMedia — the company behind UberSocial, Echofon and Twidroyd — is 'outlining plans' to develop a Twitter-like competitor.

Twitter Timeline

May 2011 (as of May 4): Twitter use ramps up on May 1 with speculation and subsequent confirmation of terrorist Osama bin Laden's death. At one point that night, Twitter records 5,106 tweets per second, which is the third highest tweets-per-second tally behind only numbers registered during New Year's Eve 2011 in Japan and the destructive tsunami there in March. Reports of Twitter's TweetDeck acquisition surface, saying an announcement about the much-rumored deal may be made in a few days.

Twitter Timeline Feed

What Twitter Events Do You Remember?

Twitter Timeline Chronological

Thanks for exploring Twitter's history with us. What other Twitter events or milestones do you remember? Feel free to visit Mashable's Explore page to learn more about Twitter or more of your favorite topics, including Facebook, YouTube and the iPhone.

Twitter Html For Website

Click through the gallery below to learn more about Mashable Explore.