When people create an account on Twitter, it is public by default. That means that anyone on Twitter can see what you tweet. With over 270 million users, there are a lot of people who might see your tweet. However, Twitter has an option where you can make your account private. When you do this, only the people you approve can see what you post.
People often want to know whether their own account is private, and they want to know if other accounts are as well. If you don’t know how to find out, you might become frustrated wasting time on it. Fortunately, it is not hard to find out. Continue reading to learn how to tell if a Twitter account is private.
You Can’t See the Tweets
When a Twitter account is private, the user only shares their status updates and tweets with friends and family. Many people are not interested in sharing their tweets with the public, and this is a great option. If you want to make your account private, you will only share what you tweet with your followers. Moving forward, people will have to request to follow you, and you can choose who you approve.
You can actually make your account private very easily by going to your Settings. When you choose Security and Privacy, you can choose the option “Protect my Tweets.” Once you select this option, only your followers will see your tweets. Nobody will be able to see them unless you approve them as a follower.
You Can’t Retweet Their Tweets
If you are already following someone, it can be hard to know if they have a private Twitter account. You will be able to see their tweets, and as long as you are a follower, it will look the same as an account that is not private. However, you will be able to find out if it is private.
First, you will be able to favorite tweets and comment, but you will not be able to retweet their posts or share their content. Twitter disables the retweet function on private accounts. This keeps the content secure and private so that only approved followers can see it.
Tweets Do Not Appear in Search Engines
Another way that you can tell if an account is private is that tweets won’t show up in Google searches or other search engines. The only people who can search tweets from a private account are the account owner and the approved followers.
If you are following someone and you want to know if their account is private, you can ask someone who doesn’t follow them to search a tweet. Then, you can search the same tweet and you should be able to find it. This will let you know that the account is private.
Some people prefer to have a private Twitter account because they want to share their posts and tweets with people they approve as followers. They don’t want their content posted all over the Internet. You can easily make your account private by following the steps above. If you want to know whether another account is private, you can try different things to find out.
Twitter disables retweeting on private accounts, so you will not be able to share their content. You can still favorite and comment on it, but you can’t share it. You will be able to search it if you are a follower, but you can have someone else look for it if you aren’t.
It isn’t very difficult to determine whether a Twitter account is private as long as you know how to check. Some people want to use Twitter to communicate with their circle of friends and not with the rest of the public. They make their accounts private for this reason.