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Last week, Twitter began testing a new feature called Twitter Circle. If you’ve ever wished your tweets would be seen by a select group of people instead of the world, you’ll probably like this new feature.
About Twitter Circle
With Twitter Circle, you can restrict who sees a tweet to only the accounts in your Circle. Or you can tweet to everyone, it’s your choice.
When you tweet, you choose whether you are sending it to your Circle or to Everyone. If you send a tweet to your Twitter Circle, only the accounts in that Circle can see and reply to the tweet.
You can add up to 150 accounts to your Twitter Circle. The accounts you add to your Circle don’t have to follow you to be included. Choose wisely though, you only get one Twitter Circle.
The list of accounts in a Circle is available only to the account that created the Circle. You’ll learn if you’re in someone else’s Circle if you see a tweet that’s limited to that Circle. You can find out who else is in that Circle if someone replies to or likes the tweet.
If your Twitter account is included in a Circle, you cannot leave the Circle. But you can mute a Circle conversation, just as you can for a tweet that is shared with everyone.
Tweets shared to a Circle cannot be retweeted. But be cautious about what you share on Twitter, even to a Circle. People in the Circle could take a screenshot of a Circle tweet and share it widely.
Twitter announced this new feature in a tweet, complete with a video that shows how Twitter Circle works:
Some Tweets are for everyone & others are just for people you’ve picked.
We’re now testing Twitter Circle, which lets you add up to 150 people who can see your Tweets when you want to share with a smaller crowd.
Some of you can create your own Twitter Circle beginning today! pic.twitter.com/nLaTG8qctp
— Twitter Safety (@TwitterSafety) May 3, 2022
Availability of Twitter Circle
Twitter Circle is available on the Twitter app for Android and iOS (iPhone and iPad), as well as the Twitter website.
Twitter is testing Circle with a limited number of people around the world. To see whether you have access to Twitter Circle, start composing a tweet using the Twitter app or website. If you see an option to share the tweet with your Circle, congratulations! You have access to Twitter Circle. If you don’t see that option, you don’t have access to Twitter Circle (yet).
The company has not said when or if Circle will be rolled out to all Twitter users. Note that the availability of Twitter Circle does not seem to be related to Twitter Blue. (I subscribe to Twitter Blue and do not have access to Twitter Circle yet.)
Learn more about Twitter Blue at => Twitter Blue — Is It Best for You?
How to Use Twitter Circle
Eager to get started using Twitter Circle? If you have access to Twitter Circle, you can try it out and start creating your Circle.
Twitter has shared helpful instructions on how to set up and manage your Twitter Circle:
- From the main menu, select Tweet to open the Tweet composer.
- Select Everyone to display the Choose audience menu within the Tweet composer.
- Select Edit next to the Twitter Circle option.
- Under Edit your Twitter Circle, use search to find and choose people you want in your Circle or select someone from the recommended list. Select Add/Remove next to their name.
- Select Done and continue drafting your Tweet.
- Now, when you select Tweet, only your Twitter Circle can view and reply to the Tweet you created.
When You Might Want to Use a Twitter Circle
When you tweet to your Twitter Circle, only people in your Circle will see the tweet. You can use your Circle when you’re not trying to share your tweet with the world or not trying to have your tweet go viral. Those in your Circle tweets cannot share the tweet, though, as mentioned above, they can take screenshots of your Circle tweets and share those screenshots with others.
How would you use Twitter Circle? Here are some ideas:
Let’s say you’re watching the latest episode of your favorite series and want to start a Twitter conversation about it. But you don’t want to spoil the show for those who aren’t caught up. You could create a Circle of accounts for people you know who watch episodes as soon as they’re released. That way the conversation is restricted to the Circle and your followers won’t be spoiled by the conversation.
Or maybe you’re watching a game live and want to tweet about the game. You don’t want to spoil the score for your followers who are watching delayed, so you create a Circle of fellow fans who are watching live with you.
Perhaps your Twitter account is solely on-brand about a certain topic. But you want to share your thoughts with a select few on a topic that’s off-brand. You can create a Circle to do just that (when and if you get access to Twitter Circle).
Your Thoughts
Do you like the idea of Twitter Circle? Do you have access to Twitter Circle? How would you use Twitter Circle? Do you hope Twitter Circle becomes available to everyone?
Share your thoughts in the Comments section below!
Hi Carolyn, I’m not a fan of this! I like that your tweets can be seen by anyone, that’s why it is better than Facebook and other platforms where you have to KNOW people first. (But, I like your ideas about sharing from TV shows and when things are OFF of your niche.) But not enough to start one.
However, I don’t understand the difference between circles and communities. They sound very familiar. I am in 3 communities, I was asked to join and there have been no tweets or activity. So what’s the difference between them Carolyn? Thanks for sharing about this!
Great question, Lisa. According to the Twitter Help page, “Twitter Communities offers people a dedicated place to connect, share, and get closer to the discussions they care about most with anyone on Twitter.
Twitter Circle is for sharing the Tweets you only want to share with the people you choose to see them.”
I’m wondering whether Twitter was too restrictive in testing Circles. I haven’t heard of anyone getting access to Circles. And if someone were added to a Circle, they may not know what it is (unless they follow The Wonder of Tech, of course!).
I know what you mean about Twitter being a place for public discussion. Circle definitely changes that, so it could be a game-changer. Or it could fizzle. Time will tell!
Hi Carolyn,
I can see why some people will benefit from this feature – especially if they have way too many followers or if they follow people just for the sake of being kind. In other words their following and their content is all over the place and not focused. I understand how easy it is to fall into that trap so with all of that said, I like the idea of Twitter Circles.
Personally I doubt if I will use the feature that often (if I get it) but I don’t see it as a huge game changer for anyone. I use multiple Twitter accounts to help segment my audience and the kind of content I share but I’m a bit of a Twitter Geek and most people would never dream of doing something like that.
Thanks for the post Carolyn!
Hi Ileane, That’s wonderful you can separate your Twitter conversations by having multiple accounts. I tried doing that but found it too tough to keep up with more than one account. I do like the idea of Twitter Circles if I want to tweet about topics unrelated to tech from my @wonderoftech account.
There probably are many other helpful ways to use Twitter Circles beyond what we’ve discussed. I hope we get to discover those if we get access to Twitter Circles!