Following someone on Twitter means:

• You are subscribing to their Tweets as a follower
• Their updates will appear in your Tweets timeline
• That person has permission to send you direct messages

For example, if you follow @SnoopDogg, you'll get their updates in your Tweets timeline, as shown below (in Fig. 1). Your follower/following numbers are also listed on your home and profile pages.

See who follows you by clicking on 'Followers' on your home page or profile page, and make changes to who you follow on by clicking on 'Following' from either of these pages. To learn how to follow someone, read our article about How To Follow Others.

What are followers?

Followers are people who receive your Tweets. If someone follows you, they will:

• Become your follower and will show up in your Followers list.
• See your Tweets in their Tweets timeline, on their phone, or any third party application that they use.
• If you follow someone, you are their follower.

(Fig 1.) Click on 'Following' to see a list of accounts that you follow. Their Tweets will show up in your Tweets timeline. Click on 'Followers' to see accounts that follow you. 

(Fig 2.) To see what accounts someone is following, just click on the 'Following' tab on their profile. 

FAQs:

How do I know who I'm following?

• You clicked the 'Follow' button on their profile
• In place of the Follow button on their profile, you'll see a blue button reading 'Following'
• They appear in your 'Following' list, which is accessible on your home page and profile page

How do I know who is following me?

• By default, Twitter sends you an email to let you know when someone new follows you
• Set up your email preferences to notify you when you have a new follower or to turn these notifications off
• The Followers link on your profile page or home page will also show you how many followers you have and who they are.

How do I get followers? Can I ask someone to follow me?

• There is no way to ask other users to follow you on Twitter. Though some users send an @reply to others asking them to follow, this isn't the best way to gain followers. 
• You should also avoid third party applications that promise to get you many followers, as these usually break our terms of service and can get your account suspended. 
• The best way to gain friends and fans on Twitter is to engage with the service, follow others whose Tweets are interesting or meaningful to you, and be an active part of the Twitter community!

Can I restrict who follows me, or sees my updates?

• Yes: you can protect your Tweets
• Protecting your Tweets means anyone who wants to follow you must submit a request for your approval
• Only followers you approve can see your protected Tweets and your Tweets will not appear in search engines

How do I approve followers?

• If your Tweets are public, you do not need to approve followers
• If you have protected your Tweets, you can approve followers from your account home page (Fig. 3, below) or profile page (Fig. 4, below).
• You can also approve followers by clicking the link in the follower request email notification.

(Fig. 3) Follower request as it appears on your home page.

(Fig. 4) Follower request as it appears on your profile page.

Once I start following someone, can I stop?

Yes! To unfollow a user:

1. Visit the profile page of the person you want to stop following.
2. Hover over the 'Following' button; it will turn red and say 'Unfollow'. Click the button to unfollow. 

Note: Twitter does not notify you when someone has stopped following you.

Is following like adding someone as a friend on other social networking sites?

• No. Following on Twitter isn't mutual. Someone who thinks you're interesting can follow you, and you don't have to approve, or follow back.
• Deciding to follow someone back and changing your mind later is fine - just visit the person's profile page and unfollow.
• Twitter does not send a notification when you unfollow someone.
• If you want to approve who follows your Tweets, protect your Tweets. The same rules apply - you can approve followers, but you don't have to follow them back. If you change your mind, visit your following page and unfollow them.

I don't want a particular person to get my updates, but I don't want to protect my Tweets. What should I do?

When all else fails, you can block someone from following you. Your Tweets won't appear in their timeline, but they will still be able to see your Tweets by visiting your profile page (because your Tweets are public.)

What are "follow limits"?

Twitter has follow and update limits for site stability and abuse control. You can read more about this here.

Having Trouble?

Our Troubleshooting pages for Following issues have answers to common problems.