Twitter tips and hacks – 14 tricks and features you probably didn’t know about
Want to become a Twitter superstar? We've got a complete guide on all the tips, tricks and hacks you need to learn ASAP
TWITTER is one of the world's most popular social media apps, and it's got loads of secret features you might not know about.
We've rounded up 14 of the best Twitter tips and tricks that'll turn you into a proper power user in no time.
1. Threads
If you want to push a single giant chain of tweets to your followers, there's now an official Twitter button to do it.
It's called Threads, and it lets you stitch tweets together to share more information or tell a longer story.
All you need to do is tap the '+' icon when you're writing a tweet, and you can create an epic Twitter daisy chain – click on the following tweet to see what that looks like:
2. GIFs
It used to be the case that you had to trawl GIF websites to find fun animations for your Twitter posts – but no more!
These days, Twitter has built-in GIF functionality. When you're making a tweet, just click on the tiny 'GIF' icon and you'll get a massive selection of GIFs to suit any context.
You can also search by keyword if you're looking for a niche GIF – so tap out 'Love Island' or 'Corbyn' if you've got a particular theme in mind.
3. Polls
If you want to settle that long-running office debate, there's no better way than with a solid Twitter poll.
Put your query to the masses by tapping 'Add Poll' when creating your tweet. You can have multiple-choice answers and a time-frame of up to 24 hours.
Votes are completely anonymous, and other users will only be able to see the live scores once they've voted.
4. Finding classic tweets
Want to find an ancient tweet you posted back in 2012? Or looking to dig up some dirt on a rival?
There's an easy trick to search someone's entire Twitter feed. Just tap the little magnifying glass on mobile, or the search bar in the top right.
Then write: from:@TheSun "bitcoin" – which will show you all the tweets that @TheSun account has posted about Bitcoin.
You can also check for Twitter mentions, by swapping out the "keyword" with the name of another account, like so: from:@TheSun "@SunSport"
5. Quote tweet
Retweeting is great and all, but sometimes you want to add your own context to a tweet – so people don't think you're in love with Donald Trump's latest policy.
Now when you tap a tweet on Twitter, you can press 'add a comment' to create a Quote Tweet. It looks like this:
6. Night Mode
If you've ever seen someone using a darkened version of the Twitter app, it's not a hack – just a setting called Night Mode.
It re-skins Twitter so it appears a darker blue, which makes it much easier to browse your timeline in the dark.
Just click on your profile avatar in the corner of your screen (top left on mobile, top right on web), and then tap on the tiny moon icon to activate Night Mode.
7. Personal analytics
Ever had a tweet that's got viral? Twitter has amazing tools that let you track exactly how big your best tweets have been.
Any time you tweet, you can see how many views it got, and how many followers you gained from it.
Simply expand one of your tweets and then click on the tiny bar chart icon in the bottom corner. You'll be given top-line stats for that tweet.
Alternatively, you can get monthly data by visiting the page and pressing 'Turn Analytics on'.
8. Birthday balloons
This is a great reason to add your birthday to your Twitter profile.
By doing so, you'll get a special birthday balloon celebration on your Twitter app when the big day rolls around.
You click on your avatar to take you into your profile, then tap 'Edit Profile' and add your birthday. We recommend choosing the private option however, so that other people on the site can't see your birthday details.
9. Avoid TV spoilers
Twitter is a great way to chat about your favourite TV shows, but it's also an easy place to have a major plot twist spoiled for you.
Fortunately, Twitter has a tool that lets you mute certain keywords from appearing in your timeline or mentions.
Just tap on your avatar, then go into Settings and Privacy, then Privacy and Safety. Scroll down to the Safety section and tap on 'Muted'.
You can then block certain hashtags, keywords, or accounts from your timeline temporarily, like: #GOT, Game of Thrones, or @GameOfThrones.
10. Direct Messages
Twitter is great for chatting publicly, but you can also use it as a private messaging app too – just use Direct Messages, or 'DMs'.
Normally, only people you follow can message you, but you can go into Settings > Privacy and Safety to choose Open DMs, so anyone can get in touch with you.
You can also set up group DMs, so you can create WhatsApp-style group messages.
And it's also now possible to share tweets directly into a DM. Just tap the share icon on a tweet (which looks like an upwards arrow) and choose 'Share via Direct Message'.
11. 4 photos, 1 tweet
This feature isn't new, but not everyone realises that you can actually share multiple photos on Twitter at once.
In fact, you can share up to four. When you're selecting a photo to add, just keep tapping more photos and you'll be able to upload them all together.
It's a great way to show off your fresh holiday snaps.
12. Safety First
If you want to keep your Twitter account doubly secure, you can use the new login verification system.
Instead of simply entering a password to log in, you'll also have to enter a code that's sent to your mobile phone.
This makes sure no one else can get into your account, even if they've managed to crack your password.
Just click on your profile icon, go to Settings and Privacy, then click on your Account settings and choose 'Set up login verification' – you'll be guided on how to set it up from there.
13. 280 characters
This isn't necessarily a trick, but more of a public service announcement: Twitter posts are no longer limited to 140 characters.
From November 2017, anyone on Twitter can post longer tweets, up to a maximum of 280 characters.
Previously, 9% of English-language tweets hit the character limit. But after the new change, just 1% of tweets hit the cap – which means you end up spending less time editing (and sometimes abandoning) hilarious or important tweets.
14. Bookmarks
It used to be the case that the only way to save a tweet to view it later was by (1) screenshotting it, or (2) liking it – but those options aren't always ideal.
Fortunately, in March 2018, Twitter introduced Bookmarks, which lets you store tweets you want to save for later.
To bookmark a tweet, just tap the share icon under the tweet and select 'Add tweet to Bookmarks'.
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Then to find it later, just tap 'Bookmarks' in your profile icon menu.
You can remove tweets from Bookmarks whenever you like, and they're completely private – only you can see the tweets you've bookmarked.
Do you have any awesome Twitter tips or tricks we've missed off this list? Let us know in the comments.
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