Twitter DM advice
March 21, 2022 1:01 PM Subscribe
If I want to RE-READ a direct message (DM) thread I've had with someone on Twitter, can the other person tell that I am in there now? Or that I've been there again? If they see that and get "creeped," that would really be too bad. If it's a meaningful thing, I may want to read it a few times, esp. if it's long. Or see their picture again. Just like re-reading a paper letter by mail when you want... I can never find my precise questions about tech answered so I come here. Thx.
The person you're DMing with can see when their messages have been delivered and when you have viewed each message (display of a checkmark and "Seen").
They have no way of knowing when you're online, how often you go back to re-read those DMs, or whether you're looking at their profile picture.
posted by doornoise at 1:28 PM on March 21, 2022 [2 favorites]
They have no way of knowing when you're online, how often you go back to re-read those DMs, or whether you're looking at their profile picture.
posted by doornoise at 1:28 PM on March 21, 2022 [2 favorites]
Best answer: No. People can see whether you've EVER seen their DM, because there's a little check mark applied under the time stamp. But not what you're doing after that.
On FB messages, for example, if you're looking at a conversation you've had with someone, a little green light indicates if they're on the app (or, if you're reading in the browser, if they're on FB altogether) but Twitter won't show you if someone is on the app, let alone whether they're in DMs, reading their feed, in Spaces (which is like Discord), etc. I often schedule tweets when I'm sharing something by one of my colleagues (because I'm reading at 3 a.m., and it won't do them much good to share it then), and invariably someone who knows I'm not a morning person will tweet back (either in the open or in DMs) "what are you doing up so early?"
Nobody on Twitter can tell if you're on Twitter at any given moment EXCEPT when you're in DMs and start typing, they may see those three little dots (like when you're having a texting conversation), or if someone sends you a message and you're already in your DMs, and thus Twitter can tell that you've seen the message. But once you've seen it once? Your DM partner will have no idea if you're reading it, even a 100 times a day, as long as you don't actually start typing a reply.
posted by The Wrong Kind of Cheese at 1:28 PM on March 21, 2022 [4 favorites]
On FB messages, for example, if you're looking at a conversation you've had with someone, a little green light indicates if they're on the app (or, if you're reading in the browser, if they're on FB altogether) but Twitter won't show you if someone is on the app, let alone whether they're in DMs, reading their feed, in Spaces (which is like Discord), etc. I often schedule tweets when I'm sharing something by one of my colleagues (because I'm reading at 3 a.m., and it won't do them much good to share it then), and invariably someone who knows I'm not a morning person will tweet back (either in the open or in DMs) "what are you doing up so early?"
Nobody on Twitter can tell if you're on Twitter at any given moment EXCEPT when you're in DMs and start typing, they may see those three little dots (like when you're having a texting conversation), or if someone sends you a message and you're already in your DMs, and thus Twitter can tell that you've seen the message. But once you've seen it once? Your DM partner will have no idea if you're reading it, even a 100 times a day, as long as you don't actually start typing a reply.
posted by The Wrong Kind of Cheese at 1:28 PM on March 21, 2022 [4 favorites]
Response by poster: Thank you very very much, that was so full and clear. So I'm good. Thanks again! Oh yeh: there is this one mutual who says she can tell when someone's "stalking" her and she's fine with it. I asked her what that was. I said you mean people going through your tweets, Likes, replies, Media, etc.? She said Yes. She's not my problem but it got me thinking, and she may be lying. Everyone looks at everyone's stuff, and yeh, you could be lurking/stalking or could just be interested in following or whatnot.
posted by noelpratt2nd at 1:46 PM on March 21, 2022
posted by noelpratt2nd at 1:46 PM on March 21, 2022
Best answer: she can tell when someone's "stalking" her
People are often, accidentally, very bad at hiding things. You get used to doing social media A Certain Way and it's hard to break yourself out of certain muscle memory habits. I'm primarily an instagram user and I've found myself double tapping stuff [not in Instagram] when I like it. Brains are dumb, basically. It's also presumably why an ex boyfriend's wife followed me at like 6am on a weekend and then almost immediately retracted it. If she hadn't done that goof I would have never known she was there, or even who she was.
If you get a current like/interaction on a months-to-years-old post/tweet/photo whatever that's a pretty good sign someone's doing a social stalk.
posted by phunniemee at 2:14 PM on March 21, 2022 [8 favorites]
People are often, accidentally, very bad at hiding things. You get used to doing social media A Certain Way and it's hard to break yourself out of certain muscle memory habits. I'm primarily an instagram user and I've found myself double tapping stuff [not in Instagram] when I like it. Brains are dumb, basically. It's also presumably why an ex boyfriend's wife followed me at like 6am on a weekend and then almost immediately retracted it. If she hadn't done that goof I would have never known she was there, or even who she was.
If you get a current like/interaction on a months-to-years-old post/tweet/photo whatever that's a pretty good sign someone's doing a social stalk.
posted by phunniemee at 2:14 PM on March 21, 2022 [8 favorites]
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If you do have read receipts enabled, they will be able to see that you read a DM at least once. However, they will not know if you've read it once, twice, or 100 times.
posted by saeculorum at 1:26 PM on March 21, 2022 [2 favorites]