Any experienced Twitter user knows how frustrating it is to accidentally delete a tweet. Just a few button presses wrong can easily “snap” this data, never to be seen again… Or is it?
For Twitter, your tweets probably won’t disappear, but for you they will definitely disappear! While it is not possible to restore your tweets to your Twitter profile, you can capture them, but there are no guarantees. Your best possible chance to view deleted tweets is with a capture program that keeps snapshots of Twitter’s past.
On another note, you can also see how to follow inactive Twitter accounts to reduce congestion on your account. Anyway, this article explains the recommended methods to recover deleted Twitter tweets on the internet and shows what is right, what is wrong, and why.
Native Road
Many websites claim that you can download your Twitter archives reflecting your entire history, which is partly true. As scary as it may sound, Twitter keeps an archive of all users’ data and lets you download it every 30 days.
Here is the process for obtaining your Twitter archives:
- Go to Twitter and log into your account.
- Click ‘More -> Settings and privacy‘ in the left hand navigation list.
- Under “Data and permissionsIn the ” section, click on ‘Your Twitter data.’
- Under “Your Twitter dataIn the ” section, enter your password at the prompt towards the bottom of the section. This area “Download an archive of your data” after logging in.
- Click ‘Request archive.‘
- Once your download is ready, Twitter will send an email or you can wait until the download link shows your button and refresh the page.
- After successful download, navigate to the folder on your PC where you saved the data.
- Extract the zip file using your preferred software.
- Open the ‘Index.html’ “Yourarchive.html” file located in the root directory of the extracted folder. It will show you all your tweets, almost as if looking at your Twitter account, but it is offline and opens in a special page that explains what the archive is. Remember that you are viewing Twitter data offline, so don’t try to tweet!
The problem with the suggestion above to view deleted tweets is that your personal Twitter archive NOT keep deleted data. We confirmed this by checking a low-volume account that had several deletions, including an intentional account that took place last month. Tweets deleted after review IMMORTALITY included in the archive. The Twitter archive suggestion above, which many websites and forums suggest, is a great idea, but it doesn’t really deliver those lost posts.
“Read MeThe ” file contains the following statement in the downloaded zip folder, which supports our claim:
“tweet.js This JSON file contains all tweets sent and not deleted.”
Use Snap Bird
Note: Twitter has suspended access to Snap Bird, at least for now. However, it is still available as an extension in the Chrome Web Store.
There is a website called Snap Bird that many other websites and forum users recommend for viewing your deleted Twitter posts and retweets. The site does NOT contain deleted tweets. It basically loads your Twitter profile to let you search and view old tweets, retweets, replies and messages. Useful if you forgot to retweet something or didn’t change a reply.
If you need to use Snap Bird to find a tweet you want to share or change a reply, the site is pretty handy and has its own upsides with only one potential downside to security. You must authenticate the app with Twitter, allowing it to access your profile and DMs. However, if you can get past that, it’s a much better solution than scrolling too much. However, you must also be signed in to Twitter, but at least the app will let you know what it can and cannot do.
return machine
Wayback Machine is another popular suggestion for viewing deleted Twitter tweets. While this idea is not a firm “NO” in terms of probabilities, it is a difficult task that takes considerable time with the possibility of being inconclusive. Your profile may not have any snapshots from the past. If not, the service is still useful for retweets you make, if you have snapshots of other parties.
If you know the date of your deleted post and it is publicly visible, you can find it by accessing the archived pages of your Twitter profile.
Here is what you are doing.
- Log into your Twitter account from a browser tab.
- Right click ‘Profile‘ on the left side and select ‘copy”
- Visit the Wayback Machine.
- Paste your copied profile page into the top search box.
- In the list of results, click a URL based on the data listed.
- In the new Wayback Machine calendar, select the day you want to view and select the time period that opens a new Twitter snapshot.
- Once the snapshot opens in a new window, browse tweets, retweets or replies to find the data you’re looking for. Note that the snapshot will reflect the dates and times relative to the time of the snapshot, not the current date or time.
Once again, the above process may not work for you, but it’s worth a try. Assuming they’ve hijacked your profile page in the past, it’s the undeleted posts that would definitely work.
Another Wayback Machine option is to use the dropdown from the add-ons icon. Here’s what you need to do.
- Left click on the Wayback Machine icon in the add-ons section at the top of the browser.
- Select the Tweets icon link box to open existing Twitter public posts.
- Browse tweets, retweets, and replies to find the post you want.
Unfortunately, spending a lot of time digging through the list and scrolling through posts can take some time, assuming it works. Many users encounter a login prompt or a 302 error. The login option may or may not work (plus use at your own risk). If the tweet, retweet, or reply is new (maybe a few hours or less), chances are good you’ll find it on the Wayback Machine under the Tweets link. The Tweets box link opens a Twitter search for the currently open browser tab, and if it’s not fully updated yet, you’ll find what you’re looking for there.
The above process may not work for finding recently deleted tweets, but it’s worth a try.
twaku
Twaku is a site that regularly takes snapshots of Twitter action, including profiles. With some luck, you can find your deleted tweet on this website. Just proceed with caution. This site can be suspiciously risky. For example, a direct click on a tweet’s link icon (image of a chain link) attempts to send you to a different page that is NOT related to Twitter (courthereb.club in our case).
We didn’t have any concerns as Malwarebytes was blocking the connections. However, right-clicking on the icon will take you to the actual snapshot post stored on twaku.com (not Twitter). Also, every time you select the same tab again, pop-up ads appear at the bottom right. Since this site is catching profile activity, there is definitely a chance to get your deleted tweets.
