When created, your Twitter account is an open account, therefore, anyone can see your tweets and follow you. If you make your account private, only users you have approved can see your tweets or follow you. This is a great way to keep strangers out of your private life and gives you control over who sees your tweets.
Step
Part 1 of 2: Making your Twitter account "Private"
Step 1. Understand very well what happens if your account is set to "Private" before you decide to protect your Twitter account and tweets
After you create your account "Private", then:
- Other users must ask for permission before following you, and you must agree before they can follow you.
- Your Tweets can only be seen by followers you approve.
- Other users cannot retweet you.
- Your Tweets do not appear in Google search results, and will only appear in Twitter searches performed by your followers.
- Your replies or @mentions won't be visible unless you send them to followers you approve. For example, if you poke a celebrity on Twitter, they can't see it because they don't follow you.
- Anything you send while your account is open will be protected, and only visible or searchable by your followers.
- You can only share the permanent link of your tweet with your followers.
Step 2. Log in to Twitter with your username and password
Step 3. Click the "Settings and Help" icon
This icon is located at the top right of the Twitter page. Select the Settings option.
Step 4. Click the "Security and Privacy" tab
Scroll to the "Privacy" section, and click the "Protect My Tweets" box to protect your account.
Step 5. Scroll to the bottom of the page, and click "Save Changes"
From now on, the tweets you send will be private, and only accessible to your followers.
Step 6. If you want to re-open access to your Twitter account and make your tweets publicly accessible again, all you need to do is clear the "Protect my Tweets" checkbox
- Remember that tweets sent when your account is private will be open and visible and searchable by anyone.
- You should also check follower requests before you set your account to open. Follower requests that have already been sent will not be automatically accepted, and followers who have sent requests will have to follow you again if their request is not checked.
Part 2 of 2: Accepting Follower Requests
Step 1. Log in to your Twitter page
Step 2. Check follower requests
If a user sends a request to follow you, a button on the left of the Twitter page will appear stating that you should check the number of follower requests.
You will also receive an email notifying you that you have a new follower request
Step 3. Look at the incoming follower requests
Click the follower request button to check who is requesting to follow your account. You can see their username, profile photo, and a link to their Twitter profile.
Step 4. Click the "Approve" or "Decline" button to accept or reject the follower request
Disapproved users will not be notified. Accepted users can now read and search for your tweets, but can't retweet you because their followers can't see your tweets.
Warning
- You can delete tweets sent while your account is still open to protect sensitive information.
- Making your Twitter account private is not a retroactive procedure, so tweets and photos sent while your account was still open will remain open. These tweets and photos may not be visible from your profile, but users who have favorited, retweeted or linked to your open tweets will still be able to access them all, even if they don't follow you.
- Users who don't follow you can't read your replies to them. If you want specific users to read your replies, ask them to follow you.
