Can People See What You Search On Twitter? (& How To Clean History)
Twitter has been the only social media platform that advocates freedom of speech, however, a lot of users do not agree with this, especially because of the platform’s algorithm. Twitter has been a great platform for interactive conversations and meaningful communication, helping personal and professional brands build audiences on the platform for marketing purposes and so on. As a user on the platform, it’s important to understand the social media network’s algorithm and also understand if other users can see what you search for on the platform.
The simple answer to this is— No, nobody can see what you search on Twitter because your queries are linked to your user ID, which is stored on Twitter’s database. This means, there is no way anybody can see what you search for on the platform and it’s impossible to access your search history.
The only way others can access your search history is if they have access to your Twitter account. In this article, I’ll discuss the possibilities of others having access to your search history on Twitter, how to clear your Twitter search history, and every other information you’ll need to keep your Twitter account secure.
Can People See What You Search On Twitter?
Fortunately, nobody can see what you search on Twitter. This is because your search is exclusive to you and is generically stored on Twitter’s database. This means no one can access your search history except they have access to your account or the device in which your Twitter account is logged in, and whenever you like, you can clear your search history.
Although your search history is exclusive to you, this doesn’t mean your tweets, retweets, likes, and other activities on the platform are exclusive to you. Your tweets, retweets, likes, and so on can be accessed by others depending on the type of account you own. If you have a private Twitter account, you’ll have to allow users to see your tweets before they can actually see and interact with your tweets.
One of the reasons why Twitter’s security is regarded as one of the best is because Twitter users do not have access to know the analytics of other users. The only information shared by Twitter between Twitter users is the number of people that retweeted a user’s tweet, the number of likes the tweet has, and how many people commented below the tweet.
However, as a Twitter user, you get access to your analytics, like how many people have seen your tweets but you can only access this after viewing your Twitter analytics page.
The analytics page will show you how many times other Twitter users have viewed your post or a tweet of yours, how many made an impression on your tweet, the total amount of engagements you gathered with the tweet or post, and even the users who have interacted with your posts the most either through leaving a reply, liking your tweet, or retweeting your tweet.
Every Twitter user has this analytics page included in their account features, however, the analytics page does not report if people can view your search or your search history which means that other Twitter users cannot get access to your search history.
Your search history is supposed to be private to you since you’re allowed to search for any account you’d like to view irrespective of the niche and Twitter understands this perfectly.
Sharing your search or your search history is a breach of your data privacy which goes against Twitter’s user policy and the user data privacy law which is penalizable in a court of law. Twitter understands this and makes sure to prioritize the security of users’ data while making sure the data is securely saved in an untraceable server.
A user’s search query is a generic data that can be overwritten by the user by deleting or clearing the data, hence, as long as the history is saved on Twitter’s server, users can still clear the history or delete the search history from the database if they have any reasons to.
However, in terms of marketing, advertiser algorithms can have a glimpse at your search history to grab an idea of what you search for on Twitter to tailor ads ran on the platform to your preferences so the ads will be relevant to you. Although this may seem like a breach in data policy by Twitter, there isn’t any breach and your search history remains unknown to anybody.
This process was also added to Twitter’s terms and conditions so it’s not penalizable and since it’s the algorithm that’s catching a glimpse at what your preferences maybe, it’s still understandable. You can also turn this off in the app’s settings.
It’s also important that you put in place security measures that will keep hackers from hacking into your account. Security measures like the two-factor authorization or using a solid and unique password will make it difficult and almost impossible for hackers to breach and hack into your account.
If you want to control who sees what you post on Twitter, Twitter has in place some privacy settings that let you do this easily without a hassle. All you have to do is to put your account on private and also tweak your settings in your account settings to control who sees your posts and can engage with them.
How To Clean Twitter Search History
There are different ways you can clean your search history depending on the device you use. This is because the search history is stored on your device’s cache memory and not on Twitter’s server or database hence, your search history is dependent on the device you used to make the search. So, select the device you want to clear your Twitter search history on and follow the following steps to clear your search history:
How To Clear Twitter Search History On Desktop Devices
Step 1: Log in to your Twitter account
Enter Twitter’s website on your browser’s search bar and head to the login page. Then enter your email, Twitter username, or your phone number, and password. If you have 2FA enabled on your account, you’ll also have to enter your 2FA verification code to access your Twitter account.
Step 2: Click On The Search Bar
Click on the search bar like you would when you want to enter a search query in the search bar. You’ll see a drop-down of your recent search queries with a “clear all” button at the top right corner of your screen.
Step 3: Click On The “Clear All” Button
Click on the “Clear All” button at the top right corner of the recent searches dropdown. This will clear all of your recent searches from your Twitter and since these searches are stored on your cache memory, they will be automatically cleared from your device’s cache memory.
How To Clear Twitter Search On Mobile Devices
Step 1: Log In To Your Twitter Account
If you’re logged in to your account, skip to the next step, if you’re not, open your Twitter mobile app and tap on login. Then enter your email, Twitter username, or your phone number, and password. If you have 2FA enabled on your account, you’ll also have to enter your 2FA verification code to access your Twitter account.
Step 2: Tap On The Magnifying Glass Icon At The Bottom Of Your Screen
Go to your search tab by tapping on the magnifying glass icon at the bottom of your screen. You can find the glass icon beside the home icon.
Step 3: Tap The Search Bar
Tap on the search bar at the top of your device’s screen. A drop-down of your recent searches will pop up.
Step 4: Tap The “X” Icon
To clear your search history, click on the “x” icon at the top of the recent search dropdown. The button is next to the “Recent Searches” heading. After tapping this button, you’ll see “clear”, click on it to clear all your recent searches.
Since your search history is stored on your mobile device’s cache memory, the search history will be permanently deleted from your cache memory. Storing your search history on your cache memory is one way for Twitter to ensure that no other users have access to your search history.
Can You See Who Looks At Your Twitter?
No, you cannot see who views your Twitter profile. Unlike some other social media platforms that alert the users whenever anybody views their profiles, Twitter doesn’t alert its users whenever someone views their Twitter profile. With Twitter, you cannot determine if you’re being stalked on the platform by someone except they interact with your tweets or posts regularly.
However, you can get the overall analysis of how many people have visited or viewed your profile and how many of these users engaged with your profile. But, you can not get to know who exactly viewed your Twitter profile. To view the number of people that visited your Twitter profile and engaged your profile, visit Twitter’s analytics page.
