What Is Following?

Following someone on Twitter means:

• you are subscribing to their Tweets as a Follower
• their updates will appear in your timeline.
• that person has permission to send you private Tweets, called direct messages

If you follow @sprsquish, you'll get their updates on your homepage when you log in, as shown below. Your follower/following statistics are also listed on your home page.
See who follows you on your followers page, and make changes to who you follow on your following page. To learn how to follow someone, read our article about How To Follow Others.

What are followers?

Followers are people who receive your tweets. If someone follows you, they:

• become your follower and will display in the 'newest follower' section shown above.
• receive your tweets in their home page, phone, or any application (like Tweetie, TweetDeck, etc.) that they use.
• If you follow someone, you are their follower.

To see who someone is following, just click on the “following” tab in their profile. From there, you can chose to “view as timeline” or “view as list of people.”


The “view as timeline” option shows you Tweets from accounts they follow.

The “view as list of people” shows all of the accounts they follow. You also have the option to see who you both follow.

FAQ About Following:

How do I know who I'm following?

• You clicked the 'follow' button on their profile
• In place of the button on their profile, you see bold text reading 'Following' with an 'unfollow' link next to it.
• They appear in your 'following' list, linked on your home timeline, just below your username.

How do I know who is following me?

• Twitter sends you an email to let you know when someone new follows you, by default.
• 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 and who they are.

How do I get followers? Can I ask someone to follow me?

There is no way to ask other users to follow you on Twitter. Though some users send an @reply to others asking them to follow, this isn't the best way to gain fans on Twitter. You should also avoid third party applications that promise to get you many followers, as these usually break our terms of service and can get your account suspended. The best way to gain friends and fans on Twitter is to engage with the service, follow others whose Tweets are meaningful to you, and be an active part of the Twitter community.

Can I restrict who follows me, or sees my updates?

• Yes: protect your profile.
• Protecting your profile means anyone who wants to follow you must submit a request for your approval.
• Only followers you approve can see your Tweets, which will not appear in search engines.

Once I start following someone, can I stop?

Yes.

1. Visit the profile page of the person you want to stop following
2. Then, click the following button to expose the drop down box, and click "remove."

Twitter does not notify you when someone has stopped following you.

Is following like adding someone as a friend on other social networking sites?

• No. Following on Twitter isn't mutual. Someone who thinks you're interesting can follow you, and you don't have to approve, or follow back.
• Deciding to follow back and changing your mind later is fine- just visit the person's profile page and un-follow.
• Twitter does not send a notification when you unfollow someone.
• If you want to approve who follows your tweets, protect your account. The same rules apply – you can approve followers, but you don't have to follow back. If you change your mind, visit your following page and "unfollow" them.

I don't want a particular person to get my updates, but I don't want to protect my profile.

When all else fails, you can block someone from following you. But, they will still be able to see your Tweets because your profile is public.

What are "follow limits"?

Twitter has follow and update limits for site stability and abuse control. You can read more about this here.