How to delete your Twitter history

It’s a normally accepted, scientifically incontrovertible fact that Twitter is dangerous for you. Not solely is it full in a very synapse-frying torrent of mental spew and unsightly headlines, however the network is additionally a performative piece of ground waiting to destroy either your career or your emotional well-being — and very often each if given enough time. However, a number of U.S. use Twitter for our jobs. And generally we tend to still realize Twitter often pleasurable, like once we all get to look at a rocket launch along. If you’re on Twitter amount, it’s an honest plan to require precautions around your tweet history.

We sleep in associate era once alt-right trolls and political operatives can pay hours scanning the web footprint of a smear campaign target, all with the aim of dredging up past jokes and verbal gaffe to twist into context-less, career-costing hit jobs. verify what happened to MSNBC contributor surface-to-air missile Passover supper in Dec of last year, once distinguished alt-right voices elevated a joke from 2009 into a fervor that price him his broadcast gig. (MSNBC backpedaled shortly once.) these items happens all the time nowadays; the rulebook was written throughout Gamergate and has since unfold throughout the bigger on-line culture war. Few individuals area unit professionally, financially, or mentally equipped to weather such a storm. Meanwhile, massive firms tend to be go by on-line illiterates United Nations agency care solely concerning trying like they’re doing the correct issue.

So if you can’t, or just won’t, cut Twittter out of your life, the simplest protection you'll be able to give yourself is that the automatic deletion of your Twitter history. initial and foremost, it’s an honest thanks to scrub the stupid and mundane musings of your life circa ten years past. It’s conjointly the sole successful manner, outside of ne'er tweeting ever, to forestall the type of distorted misinterpretation of your past that’s become a favourite recreation of on-line hacks and frauds. therefore here’s wherever to start out if you’re fascinated by nuking your Twitter history and keeping future tweets from falling into the internet’s vindictive empty of posterity.




STEP ONE: decide A SERVICE
There area unit several services out there designed to assist you manage your Twitter history and wipe it clean. Some area unit free, and a few charge a subscription fee. maybe the foremost standard of those services is TweetDelete, that may be a free net tool that allows you to each delete your Twitter history and set a timer for deletion of future tweets. Another free service is TwitWipe, that effectively will a similar issue however is full of obtrusive advertising and a little tougher to use. (TweetDelete conjointly includes a pretty simple privacy policy, another and.)

If you’re longing for one thing additional strong, you'll be able to use a paid service like TweetDeleter or TweetEraser. TweetDeleter prices $5.99 a month and allows you to delete up to three,000 tweets per day, on high of belongings you auto-delete tweets of a precise age. The service conjointly has an infinite possibility for $8.99 a month that allows you to wipe your entire history clean right away and conjointly allows you to transfer your archive.



TweetEraser is analogous, costing $6.99 for thirty days of access and granting users twitter archive commercialism, multiple account support, and ad-free use. TweetEraser may be a bit more cost-effective, and it doesn’t charge you on a revenant basis with the understanding that you’d use the service doubtless once to wipe your history. however it doesn’t seem to let users discovered automatic deletion, therefore you’d have to be compelled to continue paying for the service, like with TweetDeleter, if you’d wish to endlessly wipe your tweet history at regular intervals.

Both paid services area unit nicely designed and supply perks, however you by no suggests that ought to pay cash to perform this task, and TweetDelete works fine for many individuals.

STEP TWO: ARCHIVE YOUR TWEETS (IF YOU WANT)
Before you compromise on a service to wipe your Twitter history, you would possibly need to think about archiving your tweets. If you finish up deciding to get hold of a service like TweetDeleter or TweetEraser, you'll be able to transfer that archive to store it firmly. you'll be able to conjointly simply hold onto the folder, within the event you ever need to nonchalantly scroll back thereto three-month amount after you initial signed up for Twitter and every one you'll suppose to tweet concerning was breakfast and therefore the weather and earnest hashtag use.

To access your archive, head over to Twitter Settings, click on the “Your Twitter Data” tab on the left-hand column, and scroll right down to “Twitter Archive.” From there, you'll be able to request your archive be sent to the e-mail address related to your Twitter account. looking on what number pointless tweets you’ve pink-slipped off into the ether over the years, which will take an extended time. Eventually, you’ll get associate email from Twitter asking you to transfer your archive. it'll arrive in a very .zip file, that contains a folder inside that you’ll realize associate index.html file. Clicking which will open associate easy-to-read webpage in your browser window for scrolling through your entire Twitter history, therefore watch out therewith explicit file lest it make up associate enemy’s hands.

You can, of course, favor to say good day to all or any those well-crafted and timely opinions by destroying all traces of your Twitter presence while not a backup. This is, in my humble opinion, the trail of exertion and therefore the surest thanks to avoid self-destruction. however to every their own.


STEP THREE: WIPE YOUR HISTORY, SET A TIMER, then RELAX
Because TweetDelete is that the most well liked and easy of the free services — and therefore the one I used recently — we’ll concentrate on a way to use that one. the primary hurdle that has to be acknowledged is that Twitter’s application programming interface, that is that the software system toolkit that permits developers to access your Twitter account and tinker with it, solely permits the mass deletion of up to three,200 tweets for reasons I cannot make a case for. that produces it somewhat difficult if you’re attempting to mass-delete your history while not employing a paid service like TweetEraser that automates a number of the annoying aspects of the method. Still, it’s possible with somewhat time and energy.

With TweetDelete, you just have to be compelled to sign on and begin initiating the deleting method a definite range of times up to your total tweet count divided by three,200. as an example, if you’ve tweeted fifteen,000 times, you’ll have to be compelled to use TweetDelete 5 times in a very row. Luckily, it's not an advanced method. You sign on along with your Twitter account, authorize the app, then check the box that reads, “Delete all my existing tweets before activating this schedule.” Then you click activate.



Forget about setting associate auto-delete schedule initially, as you’ll have to be compelled to keep activating TweetDelete till it’s wiped your entire account. Before you are doing therefore, take care to uncheck the “post to my feed” and “follow @Tweet_Delete” boxes, as those 2 automatic actions area unit the sole spammy aspects of the service you’d doubtless need to avoid. It’s necessary to notice that the method takes time, therefore you’ll see your Twitter history slowly disappear over the course of minutes whenever you activate TweetDelete. you'll be able to check the progress by hit refresh on your profile page.

In the event you’ve solely tweeted but three,200 times, or you’ve currently set into motion the happy obliteration of your Twitter history, you wish to decide on associate automatic delete schedule. which will be done either on the last cycle of deletion or anytime within the future, as TweetDelete allows you to override any previous schedule along with your most up-to-date choice. The service allows you to make a choice from one week, two weeks, one month, two months, 3 months, six months, or one year.

I in person selected 3 months, however looking on however usually you tweet sorry opinions or worry a revengeful alt-right troll is stalking your timeline waiting to pounce, you will need a faster turnaround. however that concerning sums the full method up. you'll be able to invariably sign into TweetDelete if you wish to hurry up the auto-delete schedule or extend it. you'll be able to conjointly sign on simply to activate the service and wipe clean your past few months, within the event you only need to start out recent once more and don’t want watching for the timer to reset.

The next, and final, step the list here is to breathe deep, as a result of you’ve currently place into an area a pleasant very little safeguard against the malicious users out there United Nations agency usually build Twitter such associate unpleasant place to be. Thankfully, with some diligence and a transparent head and one less spirits inebriant, you’ll ne'er tweet a foul issue ever once more. Of course, we tend to all apprehend that’s not possible, however recognizing that final truth is what collaborating in Twitter is all concerning. smart luck and happy tweeting.