Module 2
Creating and setting up a Twitter account
Privacy settings, profile images & settings, usernames and notifications
If you already have a twitter account, keep reading below to investigate considerations about your privacy, profile pictures and notification settings. Note: Twitter redesigned its web interface as of July, 2019 so you may notice some differences. All of the screenshots and directions in this course are of new Twitter, not the "legacy" version.
Task: If you don't have a Twitter account, click here to create one.
Optional task: Watch this video where Michelle walks you through creating an account (on a computer, so it may look a little different on a mobile phone). >>>
Privacy: Who are you allowing to see your posts?
By default, your Twitter account can be seen by everyone and anyone can follow you. Before deciding whether yours should be unprotected (public) or protected (private), here are some things to take into consideration...
Your account should probably be public if any of the following are true:
- You want anyone to be able to see your posts, without you having to approve them first.
- You want people to be able to retweet your posts.
- You want to participate in Twitter chats.
- You are using Twitter for professional use, learning and/or networking.
Your account should probably be protected if any of the following are true:
- You only want certain approved people to see and comment on your posts, not the whole world.
- You don't want your posts to be retweeted.
- You are mostly using Twitter to view posts, not to contribute your own.
- You are a minor, or want to post pictures of minor children.
How to change your privacy settings:
In the Twitter left menu, select Settings and privacy:
-On the desktop version, click 3 dots/More
-On the mobile app, from Home, click your profile picture at the top left
...then in the Privacy and safety section check the Protect your Tweets box. When this box is checked, you must approve people to follow you. They will be able to see your posts but not retweet them. You can change this setting at any time.
Profile Picture: What are you communicating to the world?
Don't be an anonymous profile!
If you don't have a profile picture, people are less likely to follow you or allow you to follow them. A profile image says something about you, and a lack of one does, too. If you are using Twitter for professional networking, or want to communicate with others, you need an appropriate profile picture.
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For a professional profile it's best to use a real, and appropriate, picture.
How to change your profile and/or header images:
In the left Twitter menu, click Profile, then Edit profile, then click the camera icon on the profile or header image to change them.
The rest of your profile: What are you allowing the world to see?
You decide how much information you want to share. Besides a name, the rest of the parts of your profile are optional. You must share a birthday, but you can make it private so only you see it.
Children should be careful not to share personal information on their profile.
How to change your profile:
In the left Twitter menu, click Profile, then Edit profile, then make adjustments and Save.
Username: What are you calling yourself?
Twitter usernames start with @.
By default, Twitter makes your username a combination of your first and last name. So Michelle Lantz becomes @MichelleLantz11 because there are other users that are already @MichelleLantz.
You can change your username to anything that is less than 15 characters and has not already been used. Go to More>Settings and privacy>Account>Username> and type your new username, then Save.
Please consider:
Your username may say something about you, for example @techcoach1971 is a technology coach who was born in 1971. What do you want yours to say?
For safety, children should be careful not to give away personal information in their username. If Josh Jones is 12, his username should NOT be Josh12 or JoshJones2008.
Notifications: What are you allowing Twitter to send to you?
The Notifications link on the menu is where Twitter will tell you when anybody...
- likes one of your Tweets or Retweets
- mentions your username in a Tweet
- likes a Tweet that you are mentioned in (mention= somebody includes your username in their tweet)
- follows you
Twitter will also sometimes notify you about:
- Likes or Tweets by accounts that you follow
- "Recommended For You" Tweets that you don't follow
You can control some of these by adjusting settings >>>
A note about push notifications: These are the little boxes that pop-up suddenly on top of whatever you are viewing on the computer. You may already be blocking notifications from all websites in your browser settings. When you click on Push notifications in the Twitter settings and see messages such as "Unsupported browser: It looks like your browser doesn't support push notifications." ...that means that you have them turned off. If you want them to pop up in your browser when you are not using Twitter, you need to adjust your browser settings.
How to change your notification settings:
In the Twitter left menu, select Settings and privacy (on the desktop version click 3 dots/More to access Settings and privacy), then Notifications. There are many options which are each are explained below:
Image credits:
Header image: Twitter-birds-social-media-leader-crowd Notifications by Nick Youngson CC BY-SA 3.0 Alpha Stock Images All other images created by Michelle Lantz