What is following?

Following someone on Twitter means:

• You are subscribing to their Tweets as a follower.
• Their updates will appear in your Home tab.
• That person is able send you direct messages.

What are followers?

Followers are people who receive your Tweets. If someone follows you:

• They'll show up in your followers list.
• They'll see your Tweets in their home timeline whenever they log in to Twitter.
• You can send them direct messages.

How do I know who I'm following?

Click your "following" number on your profile or home page to see who you've followed, displayed in a following list. You can unfollow users from that page if you don't want to follow them anymore.

Want to follow someone new? Learn how in our article about How To Follow Others.

How do I know who is following me?

The followers link on your profile page or home page will show you how many followers you have and who they are. By default, Twitter sends you an email to let you know when someone new follows you. Set up your email preferences to notify you when you have a new follower or to turn these notifications off.

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

There is no way to send a request for other users to follow you on Twitter. Though some users send an @reply to others asking them to follow, this is not a good way to gain followers.

Avoid third party applications that promise to get you many followers – 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 people, follow others whose Tweets are interesting or meaningful to you, and be an active part of the Twitter community by reading and posting high-quality information.

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

Yes: you can protect your Tweets (or un-protect them). Click here to learn how.

Protecting your Tweets means anyone who wants to follow you must submit a request for your approval. Only followers you approve can see your protected Tweets and your Tweets will not appear in search engines.

How do I approve followers?

If you have protected your Tweets, you can approve followers from your account home page. Click here to learn how.

Once I start following someone, can I stop?

Yes! You can unfollow other accounts at any time. Click here to learn how. Twitter does not send a notification when you unfollow someone.

If you have requested to follow someone whose Tweets are protected, then change your mind, you can click cancel to undo your follow request. (The cancel button appears on their profile in the same place you clicked the follow button.)

How do I make a particular follower stop following me?

Block that user. They will not be able to follow you or request to follow you unless you unblock them.

Is following the same as friend-ing someone on other social networks?

No. Following on Twitter isn't mutual. Someone who thinks you're interesting can follow you, and you don't have to approve it or follow them back.

If you want to approve who follows your Tweets, protect your Tweets. The same rules apply – you can approve followers, but you don't have to follow them back.

I don't want a particular person to follow me. What should I do?

Block that user from following you. They won't be able to follow you and you will see a blocked button when you visit their profile. To unblock a user you've blocked, visit that user's profile and click the block button on the right-hand side. Read more.

Your Tweets won't appear in their timeline, but they will still be able to see your Tweets by visiting your profile page (if your Tweets are public).

What are "follow limits"?

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

I have a follower who posts spam or porn. Help!

• To learn how to report spam on Twitter, click here.
• To learn how to report inappropriate content, click here.

Having Trouble?

Our Troubleshooting pages for Following issues have answers to common problems.