Even some of Twitter’s most active users do not realize it started out as a service that focused primarily on text-messaging (or,  “short message service” or “SMS”). In its earliest and most simple form, it was a text message relay system, meaning one text could be distributed to anyone who wanted to receive it. The reason a Tweet is 140 characters long is because of the limitations some carriers place on the length of text messages.

With Twitter now built in to computer and mobile device operating systems, and integrated into countless desktop and smartphone apps, fewer-and-fewer Twitter users today send Tweets via pure old-school SMS commands.

But Twitter still is a powerful text messaging tool that can be managed from the keypad of any mobile phone that allows text-messaging. 

Messaging Short Code

Use your carrier’s messaging short code to access Twitter.  In the U.S., all carriers use: 40404 (For a complete list of short codes, see this list on Twitter’s support site.)

SMS Commands to Use With Twitter

Below, are some of the actions you can execute on Twitter using text-message commands. Note: Do not use the “@” symbol with command text. Twitter interprets the “@” symbol as a username, so never use “@On” if you mean just “On” (Also, using Twitter via text messaging may incur costs from your phone carrier depending on your plan.)

Turning mobile Twitter updates OFF and ON:

  • ON: turns ALL your authorized Twitter updates and notifications on.
  • OFF: turns ALL phone notifications off.
  • ON [username]: turns on notifications for a specific person on your phone. Example: ON smallbusiness
  • OFF [username]: turns off notifications for a specific person on your phone. Example: OFF smallbusiness
  • FOLLOW [username]: allows you to start following a specific user, as well as receive SMS notifications. Example: FOLLOW smallbusiness, or F smallbusiness, for short.
  • UNFOLLOW [username]: allows you to stop following a specific user.
  • LEAVE [username]: allows you to stop receiving SMS notifications for a specific user without having to unfollow them. When you log into twitter.com from the web you will still see this user’s updates in your timeline. Example: LEAVE smallbusiness, or L smallbusiness, for short.
  • STOP, QUIT, END, CANCEL, UNSUBSCRIBE: will deactivate your account if you are an SMS-only user. If you completed the sign-up flow on the web, sending any of these commands to your Twitter short code will simply remove your phone number from your Twitter account.

Send direct messages, mark Tweets as favorites, and more.

  • @[username] + message: shows your Tweet as a reply directed at another person, and causes your Tweet to save in their mentions tab. Example: @smallbusiness I love that book too!
  • D [username] + message: sends that person a Direct Message that goes to their device, and saves in their web archive.
  • M [username] + message: sends a private message. Examples: d Jane want to pick a coffee for me while you’re there? or m Jill wanna pick up a Jamba Juice for me while you’re there? performs the same action.
  • RETWEET [username] or RT[username]: sends that user’s latest Tweet to your followers (also known as a Retweet). Example: RETWEET Charles or RT Charles
  • FAV [username]: marks that user’s last Tweet as one of your favorites (reply to any update with FAV, FAVE, FAVORITE, FAVOURITE, or * to mark it as a favorite if you’re receiving it in real time). Examples: fav smallbusiness, fave smallbusiness, favorite smallbusiness, or *smallbusiness
  • HELP, INFO or AIDE: texting help, info, or aide to Twitter will bring up helpful tips.
  • ON/OFF [username]: only stops notifications coming to your mobile phone; you’ll still collect a person’s updates on the web since you’re still following them.
  • UNFOLLOW [username]: unfollows a user via SMS.
  • BLOCK [username] or BLK [username]: blocks a user via SMS.

Find even more Twitter SMS commands on Twitter.com

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