Twitter – It’s that one place where trolls, GIF lovers, and celebrities come together. Whether you spend your time tweeting on Twitter, stalking other people, or scrolling through the trending hashtags, chances are you are addicted to Twitter. But do you really know all the ins and outs of this social media platform full of sarcasm?

Probably not. But fret not, because this is why we are here with this article today. From secretly stalking your Twitter crush to sending out angry threaded tweets, we can help you with everything. We have curated every little feature of Twitter to find the secret tricks that most people don’t know about.

In this article, we will also be covering how you can get your entire Twitter archive and open your direct messages to everyone to see what the other Twitter users really think about you.

After you are done with this article, you will not only become a rockstar on Twitter, but you can also go ahead and add ‘social media expert’ in your Twitter bio.

Here are the top Twitter tricks that you must know about:

15. Add a GIF

Can we agree on something first – GIFs are always the most fun way to reply on Twitter. You can think of the shadiest reply, but it’s still just not as shady as an eye roll GIF.

Now, there was a time when adding GIFs to your tweets was a struggle. You had to go to a GIF database website, get the GIF link to share it on Twitter, or download the GIF and then upload it on Twitter.

But thankfully, all that changed last year, when Twitter announced its in-built support for GIFs which is now available for iOS and Twitter web app. All you have to is type in your tweet, click on the GIF icon, and tap on the GIF you like. (You can also search for GIFs by entering a relevant keyword.)

14. Start a Threaded Tweet

It’s a struggle on Twitter when you want to send out a long list of connected tweets, because sending them out one by one makes it difficult for your followers to track the entire list together. You could send one main tweet, and the rest in a reply to that tweet, but then the tweets that are sent as a reply cannot be seen on your main Twitter feed.

But not anymore, because Twitter finally launched threaded tweets, and chances are you would have seen them on your feed as well. To send out a threaded tweet, click reply on the previous tweet but delete your @username from the reply box. And that’s it!

13. Use Twitter Shortcuts

If you use Twitter on your web browser and you are tired of scrolling up and down and constantly clicking buttons, then we have a great suggestion for you – Just use Twitter keyboard shortcuts.

While you might not know this, Twitter has a wide array of keyboard shortcuts that let you do everything you want. For instance, ‘l’ is for liking a tweet, ‘r’ is for retweeting, and, ‘m’ is for muting a user. You can also choose to expand a picture by tapping on ‘o.’ There are separate shortcuts for navigation and timeline as well. To access them, click on your profile picture on the top right side and go to ‘keyboard shortcuts.’

12. Open Your Direct Messages For Everyone

By default, only the people you follow can send you a direct message, but let’s be honest, what’s the fun in that? The whole reason why Instagram is so fun is because of Instagram Directs, which any user can send you.

Well, you can do the same thing on Twitter as well. Go to the Twitter settings page and click on the Privacy and Security tab. Scroll down the page, go to the direct message option, and check mark the ‘Receive Direct Messages from anyone.’ You can head over to the home page to declare to the Twitterverse that your DMs are open to everyone. And you know what they say – It goes down in the DM.

11. Reach More Followers With A Dot Operator

By now you must have surely seen some Twitter users adding a mysterious dot operator before Twitter handles while replying to tweets or when directly sending out a tweet. But, if you don’t know what the real use of it is, then we are here to blow your mind.

If you send out a reply with just @username, then that tweet will only be seen on the Twitter feed of people who follow both you and the person you tagged. But if you use .@username, then that tweet will be seen by all of your followers.

10. Customize Twitter’s New Reply Feature

Recently Twitter also made big changes in the way users reply to each other. Now, the user handles you have mentioned in a reply do not count against the total 140-character word limit. According to Twitter, this will give users more room to reply.

When you reply to a tweet now, you will automatically be shown above the textbox; the user handles you are replying to. While it might be useful for some people, there may be times when you wouldn’t want to reply to all the people in the tweet. Well, you can customize this new feature by clicking on the ‘Replying to…’ option and unchecking all the users you don’t want to tag in your tweet.

9. Use Twitter Analytics To Find The Best Time To Post

Don’t you just hate it when the worst of your tweets get the most attention, and your best and funniest tweets hardly get one like?

That might be because of the time you are posting your tweet. If you have a large number of followers, then there will be a time of the day when the largest number of followers are active on Twitter, and that’s when you should be posting the most.

To find that out, go to your Twitter Analytics tab and check the tweets with the most engagement and impressions. Note down their timings and send out more tweets during that time of the day.

8. Download Your Entire Twitter Archive

Our Twitter feed has the ability to tell our whole life story, from the day we joined Twitter. We have tweeted about everything right from our political views to our favorite Netflix shows, and what we had for dinner.

Twitter can let you relive all that by emailing the entire archive to you from your first tweet to your most recent. Just go to your Twitter Settings and click on the Accounts tab. Scroll down the page to find the ‘Content’ section and click on the button ‘Request your archive.’ The download link will be emailed to you within a few minutes, depending on the number of tweets you have.

7. Mute Specific Words

People on Twitter are highly opinionated, and it’s definitely not news. They will go out of their way to share their views and prove their argument right. But, we have all had days, when we just don’t want to read another tweet about a piece of news. Maybe it’s about the new president, elections in France, or the fact that Prince Philip stepped down from his duties.

To make your Twitter feed stress free, you can mute certain words that have begun to annoy you. Go to your Twitter settings and click on the tab, ‘mute words.’ You can choose a word, a hashtag, and also decide the duration for the mute.

6. Get A Notification Every Time A Twitter User Tweets

Have you been secretly stalking your Twitter crush and you keep checking their feed just to see what they are tweeting or who they are replying to?

You don’t have to go through all that trouble and obsession of constantly checking their profile because you can get a direct notification every time they tweet. If you are using Twitter on the web browser, go to the user’s profile, and click on the three dots near the Follow button. Choose turn on mobile notifications, and you will start receiving the notifications from them. If you are using the Twitter mobile app, then you need to tap on the bell button on the top right side of the user’s Twitter profile.

Though, do remember that you need to be following that user to get notifications.

5. Check Your Twitter Login Information

Did you share your Twitter password with your new girlfriend and now you are worried she might be snooping on you? If you are confused about whether she is continuously going through your account or not, we have a foolproof way for you to find out.

Go to your Twitter Settings and click on the tab ‘Your Twitter Data.’ You might be prompted to re-enter your password here. Scroll down to the login history and click on login events. The new web page will show you an in-depth list of the apps and IP addresses that are accessing your Twitter. If your account is being directly accessed by an IP address that’s not yours, it might be your girlfriend’s.

4. Stop Video Autoplay

Some users still argue whether adding images and videos to Twitter was a good move, but even if you have a problem with it, there is nothing much you can do other than just live with it.

But if you are annoyed with the videos that autoplay on loop whenever you press play, then we can definitely get you out of that situation. In the Twitter Settings, go to the Accessibility tab.’ Under the video tweets section, remove the check from the Video Auto Play section and click on Save changes.

3. Create Lists To Segment Your Feed

We follow so many interesting people that we often miss out on some of their favorite tweets. While checking each and every user’s profile is a rather big task, you can create lists to segment your Twitter feed.

On the top right corner of the Twitter web page, click on your profile picture, and select Lists. You will then be shown all the lists you have and the lists that other users have added you too.

Click on the ‘Create a List’ option on the right side and start adding Twitter users to your list.

2. Add Stickers To Pictures You Upload

If you love sharing pictures on Twitter, then make them even more fun by adding stickers to them. By the way, this feature only works when you access Twitter from your mobile app.

Upload any picture that you want to share on Twitter. When the image is done uploading, you will see a small smiley icon and a pencil icon on the side. Click on the smiley icon to add any kind of stickers you want. The size of the stickers can be changed by pinch zoom.

By the way, by clicking on the pencil icon, you can edit your image and add a filter to it.

1. Tag Someone Else’s Tweet When You Are Replying

So, you are replying to a tweet, but for reference and may be to prove a point, you may want to include someone else’s tweet about the same topic. Instead of copy pasting that tweet and tagging the original user, you can copy the tweet’s link in the reply, and when you publish it, the original tweet will be directly embedded in your reply, inside a box.

If you have anything to say about the tweet you are adding, make sure you add all that before you paste the link.