Recovering and Finding Deleted Tweets Isn't Impossible, But ...

Search for your Twitter page on Google Search. Click on the down arrow sitting beside your Twitter profile's URL. · Click on “Cached” to see your deleted tweets ... Skiptocontent SpreadtheloveLet’sgetonethingclear:youwon’tbeabletofinddeletedtweetsfromadeletedaccount,notunlessyouuseathird-partyapporaccessaninternetarchiveofTwitter. That’sjusthowitis.ToprotectyourprivacyandtomaintainTwitter’sfocusonrecording“moments”ratherthanservingasadatabaseforeverythingthatgoesoninyourday,themicrobloggingsitemakessurethatthere’snowayforyoutoaccesssomeoneelse’sdeletedtweet. Butwhataboutyourowndeletedtweet?Nowthat’sanotherstory. UnbeknownsttomostTwitterusers(exceptforthereal,hardcore,codingtypesoutthere),thereareactuallyacoupleofwaystoretrievedeletedtweetsfromyourownaccount.ThiscanbedoneeitherthroughthenativeTwitterapporthroughathird-partyapp. Ofcourse,relyingonthird-partyappstofinddeletedTweetscanberisky–whatwiththeamountofsensitiveinformationyou’llbegivingthemaccessto.Butwithatrustedappbyyourside,youwon’thavetoworryaboutsomeweirdtrollfarminsomebackwatercountrystealingyourlogininfo. HowtoFindDeletedTweets Tosaveyoufromconfusion(andpossiblephishing),we’vecompiledalistofsomeofthemosteffectivewaystorecoverorviewdeletedtweets: UseTwitter’sNativeAdvancedSearch Aswithmostpiecesofdigitaltech,usingthenativeappforallyourneeds,includingretrievinginfo,isbyfarthesafest.ToaccessorviewdeletedtweetsfromyouraccountusingthenativeTwitterAdvancedSearch: GotoyourTwitter’sAdvancedSearchpage Gotothe“People”Subheading Enteryourusername(withoutthe@symbol)underthe“FromTheseAccounts”field Under“Dates”,inputyourstartandenddatesearchparameters Click“Search”,andTwitterwilldisplayalltheTweetsfromthetimeperiodyouchose. Alternatively,youcanalsosearchforyourtweetskeywordsunderthe“Words”subheading.Underthe“Words”Subheading,you’llbegiventhreeoptions: AllofTheseWords(willonlydisplaytweetsthatmatchyoursearchparameters), ThisExactPhrase(willonlydisplaytweetsthathavethesameexactwordandwordplacementasyoursearch), AnyofTheseWords(willdisplaytweetsthathaveatleastoneofthewordsinyoursearch). Sure,thismethodhasitslimitations,butifyou’reoneofthosetinfoil-hat-wearingparanoidtypesthatdon’twanttosharepersonalinfotothird-partyapps,thenusingTwitter’snativeAdvancedSearchFeatureisyourbestbet. RequestforaCopyofYourTwitterArchive RetrievedfromPixabay Thisisamorecompletewayofseeingallthetweetsyoueverpostedsincethedawnofyouraccount.Butmorethanjustfindingorrecoveringdeletedtweets,havinganupdatedhardcopyofyoursocialmediaaccountsisaresponsiblethingtodo(nottomentionagoodwaytorecoveryouraccountifitevergetscompromised). TorequestacopyofyourTwitterarchive: GotoyourAccountSettingstabinyourTwitteraccount Goto“Content” Fromthere,you’llseeabuttonthatsays“RequestYourArchive.”DependingonthevolumeofdatathatTwitterneedstocompile,yourcopywillarrivewithinminutes,hours,orevendays. Whenyourviewablearchiveisready,you’llbesentapushnotificationthatwillleadyoubacktoyourTwitteraccountspage. Fromhere,clickthe“DownloadArchive”button. JustareminderbeforedoingthistomakesurethattheemaillinkedtoyourTwitteraccountisverifiedandupdated.Twitterusuallysendsadownloadablefiletoyouremailaddressasabackup. WhenyourequestacopyofyourTwitterarchive,you’llbesenta.zipfilethatcontainsanindex.htmlfilethatallowsyoutobrowseyourarchivefromyourwebbrowser,anda.csvfilethatcanbeopenedusingyourfavoritespreadsheetprogram. FindDeletedTweetsUsingtheWayBackMachine Granted,thosetwomethodsmightnotshowyouallyourdeletedTweets;there’salotofdatatocompile,andtheTwitterserversmightnothavethedatayouneed.Sowhatifyoudownloadyourarchiveandusetheadvancedsearchandarestillunabletofindthetweetyou’relookingfor? Youmighthavetotryyourluckwithatimemachine.Specifically,aninternettimemachine! AlthoughnotexactlytheDeLorean,theWayBackMachineisthenextbestthingtoafunctioningfluxcapacitor.FoundedbythenonprofitorganizationInternetArchive,theWayBackMachineisadigitalarchivethatscourstheinternetandtakesscreenshotsofcertainpagesforposterity. Noticethatwesaid‘screenshot’:youcan’tactuallyaccessfulltweets,andtheWayBackMachinetakesrandomscreenshotsatrandomtimes,butit’stheclosestyoucangettoseeadeletedtweetfromadeletedaccount.Butagain,noreassurances. TousetheWayBackMachine: AccesstheWayBackMachineandtypethefullURLoftheTwitterpageyouwanttosee.Inputthisinthesearchbarandclick“BrowseHistory”. IftheWayBackMachinehascrawledthispagebefore,itwillshowyouascreenshotofthatpage.Thisisorganizedbyyearandday. ChoosetheYearandDayofthedeletedtweetandtrytofinditthere. Remember,theWayBackMachineonlytakesscreenshots,soyouwon’tbeabletoscrollthroughthepagelikeyounormallywould.Italsowon’ttakescreenshotsconstantly,soifatweetwasdeletedbeforethearchivecouldcrawlthepage,youwon’tbeabletofindthatdeletedtweet. SeeDeletedTweetswithGoogleCache IftheoldTwitterarchivetechniqueortheWayBackMachinemethoddoesn’twork,youcanalsofinddeletedtweetsthroughGoogleCache.Allittakesistwosteps: SearchforyourTwitterpageonGoogleSearch.ClickonthedownarrowsittingbesideyourTwitterprofile’sURL. Clickon“Cached”toseeyourdeletedtweetsviayourprofile’scachedversion.Youcanalsousethistechniquetofindanotheruser’sdeletedtweets. AnoteontheGoogleCachemethod:thistechniquehelpsyourfinddeletedtweetsquickly.Justmakesurethatyouhaven’tclearedyourbrowser’scache.Otherwise,findingdeletedtweets HowToViewAnotherPerson’sDeletedTweets Ifyouwanttoviewsomeoneelse’sdeletedtweets,useSnapBird.Thisplatformhelpsyourevisityouroldtweets.Youcansearch,sortandorderthem,aswellascheckcommentsandretweets.However,itdoesn’tloadtweetsforyou,andyou’llneedthird-partyappsifyouwanttocheckotherusers’deletedtweets. IfyouwanttouseSnapBirdtofindanotherperson’sdeletedtweets: VisitSnapBird’sofficialwebsite. EnteryourTwitteraccount’susernameandpasswordtoauthenticatetheaccount.SnapBirdwillnotpostanythingwithoutyourpermissiononyourtimeline. Oncetheaccounthasbeenauthenticated,SnapBirdwillconnectwiththeTwitteraccount.You’llseeyourdeletedtweets. SnapBirdisahandywaytofinddeletedtweets.Ifyouwanttoviewdeletedtweetsordirectmessagesthatmentionyou,buythepremiumversionofSnapBird. CanIStillFindDeletedTweetsWithPhotos? Tosomeextent,yes.WheneveryouuploadaphotoonTwitter,thesocialmediaplatformprovidesapermanentURLforthephotosyouposted.Thisway,evenifyoudeletedyourtweet,youcanstillrecoveryourphotosandseethem.JustmakesureyousavethoseURLssoyoucanstillfindthosephotos! TweetResponsibly Somepeoplewhofinddeletedtweetsmaywanttousetheresultstodiscreditothers.Butifyoutweetwithcare,youwon’thavetoworryaboutoldpostshauntingyouinthefuture.PhotobyRaviSharmaonUnsplash Findingdeletedtweetsisoneofthemostpopularwaystodiscreditsomeoneforsomethingtheysaidyearsago.Imean,sure,youcouldalsouseittofindatweetyoufoundfunny.Butlet’sbehonest:inthemodernworld,findingacopyofadeletedtweetsayingsomeawfulthingssaidbyacelebrityorpoliticianislikefindingadiamondinagoldmine. DonaldTrump’sdeletedtweets,forexample,canbeasourceofhumorandhorror.Theycanbevaluablebeyondmeasureorcouldbejustinanerantsofadull-wittedmind. WhereasTrump’sshockingorinanetweetsbarelyaffectedtheformerPOTUS,othercelebshavelostjobsbecauseofpasttweets. WriteranddirectorJamesGunnwasfiredfromdoing“GuardiansoftheGalaxyV.3”overadeletedtweetthatresurfaced.Itwasdugupbyconservatives,accordingtoareport.Thepostreportedlywent:“Ilikeitwhenlittleboystouchmeinmysillyplace.Shhh!” IggyAzaleadroppedoutofaPrideeventafterpressurefromLGBTQgroupscitedherpasttweets.Oneofwhichallegedlyread:“ThisAsianladyontheplanetriedtoactlikeshedidn’tunderstandmeItoldhera**bi*chugoneknowEnglishtodaycausethat’smyseat!” AndthentherewasKevinHart.ThecomedianwasslatedtodotheOscarsin2019butbackedoutaftera2011tweetresurfaced. Whatyouposttodaycouldhavealastingimpacttomorrow.Sotweetresponsibly.Thinkaboutwhatyou’regoingtopostbeforeyousenditoutfortheworldtoread,interpretanddigupwhenthetimeisright.Ifyouhavefirmbeliefsaboutsomecontroversialissue,considerhowitwillaffectothers.Ifyou’renewtotheplatform,learnaboutTwitterfirst. Ifyoustillmanagetotweetsomethingthatcouldhauntyouinthefuture,knowthatTwittermadeitreallydifficultforpeopletofinddeletedtweets,especiallyfromdeletedtwitteraccounts.AndalthoughAdvancedSearchandArchiverequestsmightworktoseeyourowndeletedtweets,youwon’tbeabletoviewtweetsfromarchivedordeletedaccounts.TheWayBackMachinetakesscreenshots,butit’srandomatbest,andmightnotgetyoutheresultsyou’relookingfor. Andifyoustillcan’tfindit,justhopesomeoneonReddithasreceipts. Spreadthelove Postnavigation ←PreviousPostNextPost→ RecentPosts HowtoHelpEmployeesStayHealthy?PersonalizedEfforts BestPracticesforReducingWasteinYourBusiness AGuidetoaSmallLogisticsSetup FindingtheMostEffectiveStrategytoReachYourTargetAudience EverythingYouNeedtoKnowAboutJBLEarbuds Categories BusinessTech DigitalMarketing FinancialTech Newsroom Technology ScrolltoTop