How to Delete a Twitter Account

Only an authorized user to your account will have the authority to delete your account, so you must log in before you can delete your Twitter account. It is also important to note that you may not delete Twitter accounts from a mobile device. This is for security reasons and to avoid people being able to use your mobile phone to delete your account since phones are more shareable than desktop computers.

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Next, you need to go into your account settings by clicking your profile picture and choosing "settings and privacy" from the available drop-down menu. This will take you to the page that allows you to change settings and to delete your account.

Once you do this, you should scroll all the way down to the bottom of the settings page where you'll see the type, "deactivate my account."

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To start the process of deletion, you will need to hit the deactivate button. You will be taken to another screen that will say, "Is this goodbye?" at the top of the page.

You'll see a series of lines explaining that you can change your username instead of deleting or perform other actions rather than deleting your account. This is to ensure that you truly want to deactivate your entire account.

Once you do this, you cannot retrieve it. However, Twitter does give you a 30-day period to log back in to reactivate your account.

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Once you have decided that you want to deactivate your entire account, hit the "delete" button at the bottom of this new screen to acknowledge deletion. This will put your Twitter account in line for elimination.

However, you have up to 30 days to log back in, and your account will be reactivated.

Twitter allows this grace period because they know that people sometimes have a problem with someone on Twitter or decide they don't want to be on the platform then the situation changes, and they want back on. So this gives you time to change your mind and decide if deletion is best for you.

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You may wonder why people would delete their Twitter account since it is such a prominent platform. But many are concerned about privacy issues these days. And Twitter also has a reputation for censoring some speech if they do not agree with your views.

This is the main reason many are moving to another platform and abandoning Twitter in search of something else. Others get tired of getting constant notifications from their contacts when they are busy with other things.

If you have exhausted other means to avoid these issues, deleting your account may be the best option for you.

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There is a way that Twitter will automatically delete your account so that you won't have to do it manually. If you abandon your account (as in not posting or responding, sharing, etc.) for six months, your account will be automatically deleted. Twitter reads this as a dead account that is not being used, so they automatically delete inactive accounts this way.

All you have to do to save your account, though, is to log in.

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If you decide that you don't want to delete your Twitter account, you can take one of the following actions instead and continue using your Twitter account:

• Change your username. By changing your username instead of deleting your account, you can keep using it under another identity.
• Limit notifications. Notifications sometimes bother people on their mobile devices. Delete the Twitter app instead and limit notifications to the most essential.
• Just log out. You don't have to know every single thing people tweet out or share involving your account. Some people are nervous about not replying or responding to tweets, but no rule says you have to!

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Okay, so you've removed yourself from the Twitter community. You may suffer some temporary relapses and log in a couple of times for sentimental reasons. But this too will pass, and you'll survive without it. Twitter is a habit to many people. If it's not there, you'll learn to live without it, and you'll find that personal communication with others is much more rewarding.

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Social media is a tool and nothing more. It allows us to connect to people that we ordinarily wouldn't, share things that you might not be able to share in the real world, and promote your idea or business to the masses. But it does have its drawbacks.

When things turn bad on social media, remember that we may be online much of the time, but we don't have to live there. Learn to break down the walls in the real world and start a conversation with a real person. It might make a big difference in how you see the world.

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Once you have deleted your Twitter account, it may be a good idea to mark your calendar or put a stick-it note on your desktop to remind you of when your account is marked for deletion. Logging back in will reset this period, and you'll have to wait another 30 days to have it deleted.

Once you've decided to delete it, it's best just to do it, then walk away and learn a new habit. Learn a new skill. Create something rather than just existing in a bubble and responding tot he world. Twitter does not make or break your life. Who knows? Maybe you'll even create something better than Twitter!

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