
How can I protect my Twitter updates and messages?I've started to get involved with Twitter based on watching your tweets and am enthused, but anxious about people I don't know reading about what I'm doing. So I want to protect my Twitter updates. Is that a good idea? How do I do it? Of the many people I follow on Twitter (I'm DaveTaylor on Twitter, btw) only about five or six protect their updates. Everyone else is "public" with their Twitter messages, fine with the fact that the messages that they send out (we call 'em "tweets") are visible to all - even people who don't follow you - show up in the public timeline, and are searchable. For most people, it's a matter of thinking about what you do and don't want to share with others in the Twitterverse (yeah, I know, there are lots of stupid names for things on Twitter!). Some people err on the side of extreme caution and only use Twitter when they're at trade shows or other professional networking events, while others send out tweets about every microscopic detail of their lives, whether anyone else could possibly care or not. And most people are somewhere in the middle. Let me show you how to protect your updates so that only people you approve can see what you tweet, then we'll resume this discussion... First off, when logged in to Twitter, on the top right you should see something approximately like this: ![]() I've circled what you want to click: "Settings". Do that, scroll down a bit on the default "Accounts" tab and you'll see this: ![]() If you want to protect your updates, simply check this box, then click on "Save". Done! Now, when people go to your Twitter page with the intent of clicking on "Follow" to follow you, they instead see: ![]() They click on "Send request" and you, as the account owner, can choose to accept them, granting them permission to see and search your twitterstream, or reject it, leaving them in the proverbial dust. Now, should you protect your Twitter account updates? I asked my Twitter friends, and got these pearls of wisdom:
The real downside of protected updates on Twitter, though, is that there's not going to be any of the serendipitous connections that gain you new followers, people who read what you're writing and decide that you're pretty interesting and worth reading. Without that, Twitter seems - to me at least - like it could become stagnant and uninteresting. How about you, dear reader. Do you protect your Twitter updates, and if so, why?
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MySpace, Facebook, Twitter and Social Network Help
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Never miss another useful Q&A article again! Subscribe to AskDaveTaylor with Google Reader. Dave, first LUV U, follow, but found this post and had forgotten you til now. I don't think protecting is good unless your ex is spying on you. It creates an additional need to click again. I see some reasons for doing so, but not in the mainstream. Thanks for your insights. Posted by: Deborah V. at April 21, 2009 2:51 PMwhen i first got my twitter, i had 0 followers. then i went to town for a while, and when i got home i logged back on. well it turns out i had 6 new followers. one's name was bigirl something or other, and one was brittneyf*tapes. Just like the way your site works. Thanks, CJM Posted by: Carl Muehleisen at July 15, 2009 7:10 PMHi. Pardon the anonymous tagging, but I don't like giving out personal info. I have a question about the effects of protection. If I protect my tweets, when I tag others, as in @sometwit, you would expect that the person sees your tweet. But if ALL of your tweets are private, then the one referencing another twit would be too. Do they see their names?? I notice the @name button on the right hand side - does this give absolutely every reference to the person? Because I have yet to recieve one response to my .. responses, and am wondering if I am responding to them privately - for them not to see. Would appreciate an answer a whole lot. Thanx. Posted by: Joe Bloggs at September 24, 2009 5:09 AMAs far as I understand, Joe, a private direct message is just that, private. If you mention third parties in it as @FilmBuzz, or similar, they still won't see it or know it exists. The diff is easy: If you start out a Tweet with "@" it's public but start it with "D " and it's private. Posted by: Dave Taylor at December 8, 2009 8:17 AMI have something to say, now that you mention it, but ...
I do have a comment, now that you mention it!
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