Hello if you've arrived here after clicking on the link in the @FriendlyBlocker account. I don't log into it very often but let me know on @JoBrodie if you want me to block your account and if I'm at work or doing stuff we can arrange a time later - or if you're really keen to see blocking in action immediately I recommend using a spare email address to set up another account and run some tests yourself.
This is my main Twitter account at @JoBrodie
I can also occasionally be found at @FriendlyBlocker although that's a spare account that I use only for testing purposes. It looks like this:
The @JoBrodie account has blocked the @FriendlyBlocker one so, when logged in as FriendlyBlocker here's what I see when I look at 'JoBrodie' - not much.
I can't see any tweets and there's a message saying "You are blocked from following @JoBrodie and viewing @JoBrodie's Tweets. Learn more".
Does this mean I can't view @JoBrodie's tweets? NO!
All I have to do to see @JoBrodie's tweets is one of the following
1. Search for the tweets
Type, into the search bar (or go to search.twitter.com) from:jobrodie and all my tweets will appear (I can also type jobrodie to see all the tweets I've sent or that have been sent to me).
2. Log out / use a different browser or an incognito tab (without logging in)
Log out on your browser
Once you've logged out Twitter no longer knows that you are 'you' and so it can't know that someone's blocked 'you' and will show you all their tweets
Open a different browser
If you're not logged in, it's as above - Twitter doesn't know you're you
Open an incognito tab on the browser you've got open
A private or incognito tab won't log you in (unless you log yourself in) so is the same as above.
3. Use a different account to log in with
Similarly if another account hasn't been blocked you can use that to view someone's tweets
4. Use a third party app
Twitter's block appears to be very 'effective' on desktop Twitter and apparently it's fairly variable on Twitter for iPhone (don't have an Android or other phone or tablet so limited testing I'm afraid). If I'm logged in as @FriendlyBlocker and try and view @JoBrodie from Echofon, Janetter or Osfoora on iPhone I can see both the profile page and all the tweets.
In my test set up I've used my account to block FriendlyBlocker but if you're testing the block system then FriendlyBlocker will block you, so you need to try and view the tweets from the @FriendlyBlocker account, not mine.
Here's a screenshot of what I can see on Echofon, I can click on the tweets and see all of them as well. Echofon lets you see everything (same for other third party apps I've tried).
Please note
This post has been significantly updated and altered from the original (published on 14 January 2014) and as such all comments below, before 14 December, will now be out of date and possibly irrelevant.
Posts
WOW there's really no point in blocking someone from twitter in that case! Thanks so much for this1
ReplyDeleteYeah, it's only useful if you want to avoid hearing from them as blocking does dramatically reduce the chances that you'll see their messages (you either have to go looking or someone else you follow has to retweet them into your timeline). If you want to stop them seeing you I think the only way is to lock your account, while still being cautious about what you share.
DeleteI still block loads of spam accounts though :)
Jo, I have a question... I tweet to someone and what happens to me - when I am logged in I see my comments as reactions to tweets of the person (artist, around 7 million followers). BUT: When I log out from Twitter, and try to look at the same tweets, I don´t see mine AT ALL. Does it mean that I have been blocked and no one except me and my followers on twitter can see my tweets to that artist? The same at youtube. When I log in, I see every comment everywhere. When I log out, I don´t see my comments at all in the list.
ReplyDeleteI don't think you're blocked, no, and I don't think there's anything sinister going on. To be honest I don't actually know what IS going on as I've never heard of this before but here are a couple of suggestions.
DeleteThe obvious question to ask is - is your account private? If your twitter name is @Amygdalina then what happens when you visit https://twitter.com/Amygdalina when you're logged out. If you see a padlock symbol and no tweets then that's your answer - and it may well be that other people that don't follow you (perhaps this artist) can't see your tweets. You'd need to unlock your account to fix this, or ask the artist to follow you.
If that's not what the problem was then... if the artist has a verified account make sure you're looking at the ALL bit and not just the default NO REPLIES. Every verified account has these links on their profile page. If you're not sure what I mean, try adding with_replies to the end of the web address - eg if I was verified (I'm not) mine would be https://twitter.com/JoBrodie/with_replies
Another issue might be the way in which Twitter shows all the replies in a thread. It used to unfurl the entire thing when you clicked on it but seems not to do that. So if you send two tweets in reply to someone's single tweet, when you click on their tweet to expand the thread you might only see one of your replies.
See if you can find the 'Details' link somewhere in the expanded tweet, if you click on that you'll get taken to a page with more tweets on it - probably not all of them (Twitter's still not showing the entirety of tweets for some reason) - you may have to click on a few others to see other bits of the 'jigsaw'.
Jo
Dear Jo, thank you very much for the reply. My account is not private. In the meantime I realized, that there are many people having the same issue: https://dev.twitter.com/discussions/9208?page=1 Really many. I have also a very similar (selected) problem by youtube, and as I found out, this can be done by the "famous" youtube-google plus mashup which makes everything weirder and weirder... Thank you once more, I will print your advice! Many greetings from the Czech Republic, on Twitter I am @LuBarbapostolu
DeleteI've had a strange experience of being a tweet that someone else has retweeted and wanting to retweet it myself, only to be told that I can't. When I go to that person's page to follow them, the message says I'm blocked from their account. The worst thing is, I've never seen them before and my account is not so large that they would have seen me for any reason. Is that some sort of weird glitch? It happened to me twice before where it appears someone blocked me and I had only just discovered they exist.
ReplyDeleteHow strange. I don't know the answer to that one either. It certainly sounds like a glitch.
DeleteAlthough it's (or used to be) possible to block someone via a text message (using the SMS system on your phone to send a command to Twitter) I don't think many people do that to block other users, so it doesn't seem likely that someone just mistyped the name of someone else they wanted to block and got you instead.
Typically people would have to click on your profile to block you and that seems unlikely if you've not made a nuisance of yourself.
Have you been able to favourite any of their tweets, or tried following them? Tried on Twitter.com (desktop / browser website thing) as well as a smartphone client?
Sorry - don't know :)
Jo
Good chance they saw something you tweeted once and didn't like it so they preemptively blocked you..typically happens to me when I join in trending hashes that are controversial. What will happen in my case is I may see this new person and actually agree with them on something they tweeted and then I find out i'm blocked from retweeting..i rack my brain trying to see if I engaged with them before and use the steps listed on this blog(logging out) to read their profile..i typically figure out that while i may agree with them a subject A(the original attempt to retweet)...we will huge differing views on subject B,C,D,E,F...etc...and it's not uncommon for people to preemptively block people they don't agree with if they see something they don't like about them in a public tweet
DeleteHello, thank you for the informative blog:-) You may have already answered this, but I'm still unclear on it... I understand that if someone I have blocked clicks onto my account they can see all my tweets. However, will my tweets automatically show up on their (tweets of everyone they follow) timeline feed? In other words will they be able to see my activity automatically the same way my other followers can, so the only way they could see my tweets would be to click on my account name? Thank you
ReplyDeleteGood question. Actually I'm not certain. Previously if someone blocked you it would be very difficult to see their tweet without logging out but more recently Twitter's changed this. I know that if you block someone you don't see their tweets in your timeline or mentions but I'm no longer sure what *they* can see. I assume that they don't see your tweets either, in their regular timeline, and would have to come and click on your profile but it's difficult to tell what's going on with Twitter ;)
DeleteMy friend @Dragonblaze on Twitter said "Block cuts all contact to that person, and they can't follow you, nor will your tweets show up. On TweetDeck tweets disappear" - which sounds right to me.
DeleteHello jo
ReplyDeleteYour article did me good because i actually had blocked someone but it turned out that they could see my tweets so i had to make my twitter private
But i want to know if i blocked or unblocked someone on twitter will they be notified that for example i've unblocked them?
Thanks
They won't be notified in the sense that they don't get an email or a tweet saying you've blocked or unblocked them but they can probably work it out. They'll be able to interact with your tweets (or not) and possibly they'll also start (or stop) seeing your tweets in their timeline (though I'm not so certain about that bit as Twitter keeps changing things).
DeleteThank you so much :))
ReplyDeleteSo, if I reply to a tweet that somebody posts who has me blocked (a nephew who posts not so nice things), will he see my reply?
ReplyDeleteIf they have blocked you then your tweet will not be delivered to their Notifications tab however this doesn't mean that he can't see your reply because if he looks at your profile then can see it. So it won't be "shown" to him but neither will it be hidden from him. So both yes and no ;)
DeleteQuestion: If someone retweets one of my tweets, and THEN I block them, will that retweet still show up on their page for all of their followers to see?
ReplyDeleteHello - that's a very good question and I'm afraid I don't actually know what the answer is.
DeleteIt could go either way. If someone adds a tweet to Storify and it's later deleted it stays in the Storify story, so there's an argument to be made that what happens before a particular time will persist.
Certainly once you block them any tweets they've already sent to you will disappear from your mentions timeline (though won't actually be deleted).
Anyone else know what happens?
Can someone still read the last DM you sent them after you blocked them. Just had to block a troll but I want him to read what I said to his annoying ass!
ReplyDeleteI don't know for certain having never tested this. I think that if you've blocked someone they're instantly no longer following you - so they definitely won't be able to send you a DM (both for being blocked AND for not following you) but I don't know if they can still receive messages from you, it is possible I suppose.
DeleteAs far as I'm aware if they've not blocked you then any @ message you send them will show up in their mentions timeline. Obviously you can both still see each other's public tweets just by looking at each other's profile (blocking makes no difference here).
For anyone who doesn't want people to see their DMs once they've blocked someone I *believe* that only one copy of a DM exists and if you delete any message that you've previously sent then they'll no longer be able to access it.
Jo
Hi, I was wondering if I block someone on twitter and someone that they follow retweets one of my tweets will they be able to see it even though I've blocked them?
ReplyDeleteYes I believe that's the case.
ReplyDeleteThe person that follows you and retweets you can either do so automatically (with the retweet button') or manually (by copying and pasting your tweet and adding RT or some other comment).
It's more obvious that the second version would show up on the timeline of someone you've blocked because it originates from someone other than you. I can see that it's less obvious that the first type would show up too, but I think, from a search of what people have been saying, that this is probably the case (though it may depend on what app they're using to see Twitter).
Don't forget though that anyone you've blocked can see all of your tweets simply by searching for FROM:YOURNAME, eg from:jobrodie would show all of my tweets even if I'd blocked you.
I've also tried out a few iPhone apps and found that, other than Twitter for iPhone, they all still show the profile of the test account that blocked me.
Possibly a future update of these apps will mean that they stop showing profiles of people that have blocked you, however I don't automatically update my iPhone apps and I'm sure plenty of others don't too so I'd not rely on that aspect of the technology.
If a person blocked me, and I "quote retweet" his tweet through when I was searching our common friend's 'favorites', who will be notified of my retweet? The person who blocked me, or our common friend?
ReplyDeletehelp!!
If they've blocked you then your tweets stop being shown to them so that means any @-mention (including a quote tweet) won't appear in their mentions / notifications so the person who's blocked you won't be notified. However it is possible for them to see the tweet if they go looking for it or choose to view your tweets (they can do this without unblocking you).
DeleteIf you've included the @name of your common friend, and they haven't blocked you, then they will get a notification about the tweet. If they then retweet this (automatically or by a comment / quote retweet) then the person that blocked you would get *that* notification.
Hi
ReplyDeleteWhen i visit my ex girlfriend twitter profile in twitter android app, i see You are blocked from following..." and can not see any information of her account. But when i loged in to my twitter account and visit her profile by using chrom browser, i can see all information of her account such as list of her following and followers and her twitts and faviourts and others. Is she blocked me or not? I have confused... help me my dear friend
I'm not certain. Twitter for Android is one of the apps that 'respects' the block (ie if someone has blocked you it says you're blocked, meaning you'd have to search or use another app or log out to view tweets). However Twitter desktop on browsers also respects the block - though I haven't tried it on Chrome...
DeleteIt seems likely that your ex-girlfriend *had* blocked you, but she may have unblocked you. Is it possible that you need to update the Android app and once done you'll be able to see her tweets there? The other alternative is that Chrome overrides the block function. To be fair it's easy to workaround on any desktop browser - you can just search for anyone's tweets if they're public, or log out to see any public account.
Of course, your ex-girlfriend may not really want you to know what she's doing - and it might be a kindness to yourself to avoid finding out - but in terms of technological workarounds, only a private account can prevent someone from seeing your tweets and other activity, the block is insufficient.
If I blocked someone but @ them by accident (ie reply to a tweet where they were mentioned) will they get my @ reply or be able to see it?? Just curious why my ex would block me aftr I already blocked him? Thanks
ReplyDeleteYes. I have been blocked by an enthusiastic supporter of homeopathy on Twitter and she occasionally responds to my tweets and they arrive in my notifications / mentions because I have not blocked her. If the person has also blocked you then your tweets won't arrive in their timeline, but if they haven't blocked you, then they will. Sorry about the delay in replying, catching up with my comments - a bit overrun with spam ones alas so everything's a bit swamped! I have a backlog to answer now :)
DeleteDon't forget that even if both parties block each other neither is really restricted from seeing the other's tweets - either can log out, search for tweets or - if given the option - click on the 'view tweets' button that shows up on some apps that allows you to view the tweets of someone that you have blocked without unblocking them.
Hello,
ReplyDeleteI have a question. Someone blocked me on Twitter. They also had their account on private. I deactivated my account for a few weeks and when I reactivated it I checked and the same person was no longer private and also I was no longer blocked. I'm just curious as to how I am no longer blocked, because my account was deactivated, they shouldn't have been able to unblock me I thought...?
Note: I first reactivated my account on my MacBook via Chrome and was able to see that they were no longer private and that I was no longer blocked, then I reactivated my Twitter app on my iPhone and I had the same results.
Thanks for the help in advance.
I don't know I'm afraid, I have no experience of deactivating or reactivating accounts. Possibly this is another way to get around a block as, if an account no longer 'exists' then the blocker's block list cannot include it. I'd have thought a reactivated account would be restored with the same 'privileges' (or in this case 'non-privileges' if the account's been blocked by someone) but possibly not.
DeleteDidn't even know it was possible to deactivate and reactivate an account! :)
If I'm not being blocked why would someone I'm following not show up in my feed? I mainly check twitter on my phone (Android).
ReplyDeleteHmm, not sure. First thing to check is are you definitely following them? Sometimes Twitter users have reported that they believe Twitter has randomly unfollowed someone on their behalf without them having done this intentionally. It could be a glitch, or it could be that they have accidentally clicked on the unfollow button (easily enough done) or even that the person they followed blocked and then unblocked them. This appears to have different effects on different apps / browsers but in some cases it results in someone being not actually blocked but no longer following.
DeleteThe other alternative is that you are blocked but that your app / device doesn't tell you this. For example the homeopathy fans who've blocked me have given me a great insight into how various different apps on Twitter work. On desktop Twitter I can't see their profiles but on Echofon for iPhone I see everything fine - so if I was just using Echofon I'd not realise I was blocked.
So I guess the last question and reply is similar to what I want to know. I found out I
ReplyDeletewas blocked from an account on my desktop Twitter. When I checked the account on my iOS I see that I could still see the account. I'm not using the app either. Is it kinda like what you said above, whereas it's blocked on one browser (Chrome) it isn't on another (Safari)?
Hi - I'm assuming you're referring to Mj's query above.
DeleteYes, different apps / browsers / devices appear to show different things. If you're using Echofon on iPhone, like me, you might not realise someone's blocked you as their profile is still visible along with their followers / following info. The only difference is that, if you'd been following them, their tweets won't be delivered into your timeline (unless they tweet directly to you in which case it will show up in your notifications / mentions).
Desktop Twitter and Twitter for iPhone indicate that you're blocked but enough people using Twitter for iPad have said that that version doesn't that it seems there may be a 'leak' there too.
I've not come across differences on Chrome and Safari though, I'd have thought desktop Twitter would be the same across all browsers - but it's entirely possible that it isn't!
What if the his/her tweets are private? And my account has been blocked from viewing his/her profile?
ReplyDeleteIf their tweets are private and you are not following them (which happens automatically if you've been blocked) then you will NOT be able to see any of their tweets. No-one else will either of course, unless they've been granted permission to follow them.
DeleteIn this situation the block forces out someone who was previously following. If they block you then any tweet you send them is unlikely to be seen (unless they look for it). If you weren't following them and they block you then the block is really just to stop your tweets from getting through as you wouldn't have been able to see their tweets anyway if their account was private.
If you are particularly keen to see what they're tweeting the only thing you can really do is look at their mentions and see tweets sent to them. I will leave you to judge how appropriate or creepy that is, and also leave this bit of info so that anyone reading who has a private account is aware that public tweets sent TO you may give away information about your private tweets!
If someone blocks me and we don't follow each other, can they still view my profile? They are creeping my profile but for whatever reason blocked me
ReplyDeleteYes. If your account is public then anyone can view your profile whether or not they block you or you block them. They may want to see your tweets at a time that suits them rather than letting you send any tweets TO them (if they block you your tweets won't arrive in their timeline). Twitter may ask them to click a 'view tweets' button to look at your tweets (the assumption is that if they've blocked you then they don't want to see your tweets, but Twitter does let them do so if they wish). That way they can look at your tweets as and when they want to. You can also view their tweets freely but you may have to search for their username to view them, or use a third party Twitter app (eg Echofon) to view them. Or log out of course, everything's available to everyone once logged out.
DeleteHi just wondering can someone see a notification from a tweet you've favorited on their profile after deactivation ?
ReplyDeleteI don't know. I've assumed that you mean that you've favourited someone's tweet but later deactivated your account, thereby removing the favourite.
DeleteIt's certainly possible that they could be aware either at the time or later if they have 'push' alert notifications switched on for favouriting, in which case they might receive an on-screen pop-up notification (if they're using desktop Twitter and happen to be online at the time) and / or an email notification. If they have email notification switched on then it's more likely that they'd know about it because even if your account is subsequently deactivated, and the favourite lost, the email would already have been sent.
If they don't have those alerts sent then the next question is 'will the favourite show up in their notifications tab' to which the answer would probably depend solely on timing. If you favourite it then it will 'add 1' to their notifications, but only if they see it between you favouriting and deactivating your account. Once your account is deactivated nothing will show up as the favourite is cancelled.
It really depends on how actively they use Twitter and whether or not they have alerts switched on. Hope that helps, Jo.
Here's my question :
ReplyDeleteWhen someone blocks you on Twitter, do they get ANY notifications from you at all?
I mean if they are tagged in something, and you respond to it, and someone they are following likes it, does the person who blocked you get a notification? I also have them blocked, if that helps.
Write AnswerAsked
They won't get any notification. Once they block you none of your tweets sent to them will show up in their notifications tab and you wouldn't be able to favourite or retweet (with the automatic retweet function, you can still copy and paste their tweet so it's effectively a mention, but they won't see it) any of their tweets.
DeleteHowever if someone replies to your tweet mentioning them, and mentions them too, then they will learn that you sent them a tweet and they can then view the tweet if they want. How they do that will depend on the app / platform that they use. On desktop Twitter they may find that they have to activate a 'view tweets' option before they can view your tweets (they can do this without blocking you, though they can also temporarily unblock you if they want to). They will also get a notification if someone else likes or RTs the tweet that mentions them even if it comes from you.
It makes no difference if you've blocked them - a block just means that whoever does the blocking doesn't have to see / interact with the person they've blocked but it doesn't prevent either party from being able to see or respond to the tweets (though those tweets might not be seen by the person doing the blocking).
I realise this isn't particularly intuitive and Twitter's block rarely makes sense, even to those of us who spend a lot of time thinking about it! Let me know if anything doesn't make sense.
But yes - unless your account is private, anyone can see what you've replied to, favourited, retweeted, who you've followed etc. It's all public and searchable.
But if someone has blocked you and never goes looking for your tweets it's possible that, unless someone else tags it in some way, they'll not see it.
So if someone blocks me and I block them, and respond to a tweet that one of their follows tweets to them, then the person who blocked me can still see that I responded to the tweet?
DeleteYes, though there's no guarantee that they will see it, and they won't get a notification about it.
Delete*If* they click on the other person's tweet they *may* see the full conversation anyway (though this can depend on the app or platform they use) which will include your tweet, thanks to threaded conversations. The block makes no difference to either party being *able* to see tweets, it just makes it a little bit harder.
Anyone who has blocked you can see your tweets by selecting the 'view tweets' option or unblocking you.
Anyone that you've blocked can see your tweets just by searching for your username.
Your tweet will still exist in the conversation thread even if it isn't 'delivered' to the person that you've mutually blocked.
My ex boyfriend has me blocked but I do not have him blocked. We also share a handful of mutual followers. Will he be able to see when one of his followers retweets me via his timeline? And does that go for quote retweets of me as well?
ReplyDeleteDo you mean 'one of his followers' (someone that follows him, though he may not follow them) or someone that he follows? If your ex boyfriend follows someone them he would be able to see any of their retweets (including quote tweets of your tweets). There are a number of people on Twitter who complain that they've blocked someone and find that they still see their tweets in this way.
DeleteIf you definitely meant someone that follows your ex boyfriend then your ex would only see if if he also followed that person, or happened to look at their account.
Even if your ex follows someone that retweets you he might miss it if he happens not to be on Twitter at the time it was sent (or if he's switched off RTs for that person - though that wouldn't affect the copy and paste 'manual' retweets).
But remember that your ex can see any of your tweets by looking at your account then clicking on the 'view tweets' option (he can view them without unblocking you). If you were to block him that wouldn't stop him from being able to see your tweets though - he can just search for your username, or use an app (eg Echofon). Most apps will let people see your profile even if you've blocked them.
Should you wish to stop him from seeing your tweets I think you'd need to make your account private (though no method can guarantee complete privacy).
Hope that helps,
Jo
Hi Jo
ReplyDeleteQuestion - I have been blocked my someone. When I go to the profile it says I'm blocked but if I search their handle I can see the responses to some of their tweets and sometimes it will show me the original tweet by the person that blocked me and other times it won't. Do you know why they would sometimes show up and other times not? I thought maybe they were showing up at times when the user has chosen the view my tweets option or maybe it's just a fluke? I am only using the Twitter for iPhone app. Thanks so much
Hi Jennifer - yes you'll be able to see all (public) replies sent to the person who's blocked you, and if you click on any of those tweets you will be able to see some or all of the conversation thread, including tweets FROM the person (who blocked you) that sent them. It has nothing to do with them choosing to view your tweets though.
DeleteIt's not a fluke it's just a result of the conflict that arises between Twitter trying to not show you someone's profile, because they've blocked you, and the fact that all public tweets can appear in a conversation thread (even if they've blocked you) because it's a different route in to reading the tweets.
Since you could log out anyway and view the blocker's tweets on a web browser there is really no practical way - beyond making an account private - for anyone to hide their tweets from anyone else.
Thank you for the reply. It threw me off because sometimes the blockers tweets show up and then other times those same tweets aren't visible to me! Weird :)
ReplyDeleteDoes it matter if the person that blocked me is private?
ReplyDeleteIf the person has made their account private then you'd not be able to see their tweets (though of course you could still see replies TO them). If you find that you sometimes can and then cannot see their tweets it may be that they've changed the privacy setting on their account, then changed it back again. The only way to be sure is to visit their profile on a browser (https://twitter.com/TheirUserName) while you're not logged into Twitter on that browser and see what you can see. If you can see tweets then their account is public and you're blocked, if it says 'this person has protected their tweets' then their account is private, and of course you may also be blocked which is why you can't see them when you're logged in.
DeleteThe other possibility is that there's been a glitch, but this is much rarer with official Twitter apps.
Hi, my question is somewhat different from what I've read here.
ReplyDeleteA few weeks ago, the DDoS strike knocked out Twitter periodically throughout the day. That morning, before the strike began, I had followed and unfollowed someone within the span of one second. Later that morning, when the strike took Twitter down, I tried to refresh on the user's page but it would not load. So I clicked page back in order to get to my profile. When the page reloaded, it was missing images and structure.
All that was there was the text: "(my user name) has been blocked." Why would I receive that message, and not the standard "you are blocked from following this account" etc. When Twitter went back up that morning, I wasn't blocked from the user's page. Was that message just a glitch?
Hi, If you block someone on twitter that is tweeting on your posts, can others still see their tweets on your posts after you block them?
ReplyDelete