FAQs About Retweets (RT)

What is a retweet?

• A retweet is a re-posting of someone else's Tweet. Twitter's retweet feature helps you and others quickly share that Tweet with all of your followers. 
• Sometimes people type "RT" at the beginning of a Tweet to indicate that they are re-posting someone else's content. This isn't an official Twitter command or feature, but signifies that one is quoting another user's Tweet.

What does a retweet look like?

• Retweets look like normal Tweets with the author's name and username next to it, but are distinguished by the retweet icon and the name of the user who retweeted the Tweet. If you see a message from a stranger in your timeline, look for the retweeted by icon as shown below – the retweeter should be someone you follow. 

Where do retweets appear?

Tweets retweeted by other people:

• You can see retweets your followers have retweeted in your home timeline, as shown above.
• Note: Retweets, like regular Tweets, will not show up from people you've blocked.

Tweets you have retweeted:

• If you retweet someone you follow, it will be visible on your profile timeline.
• If you retweet someone you do not follow, it will be visible on both your home timeline and profile timeline.

Your own Tweets that others have retweeted:

• Go to your Connect page in the top navigation bar. In your Interactions section you will see all activity concerning your Tweets - including which have recently been retweeted and by whom. 

How do I turn retweets off?

• You can turn off retweets for a specific user if you don’t like what they share. Select "Turn off Retweets" from the person icon drop down on a user's profile (shown below) to stop seeing Tweets they've retweeted.
• Turning retweets on or off is not retroactive, meaning that you can't remove retweets that are already in your timeline.
• There is no way to turn off ALL retweets from ALL users. 

How can I undo or delete a retweet that I've done?

• You can undo a retweet you've made by clicking the Retweeted link, as shown below. This will remove the retweet from your timeline, but will not delete the original Tweet.

Why can't some Tweets be retweeted?

If another user's Tweets are protected, you will not be able to retweet their content. You can see their Tweets in your timeline because they have accepted your follow request, but because they have chosen not to share their Tweets publicly, their Tweets cannot be retweeted by you or anyone else.

If you see the lock icon (highlighted below) next to the user’s name and information on their profile page or on their Tweets, their Tweets are protected and you will not be able to share their Tweets on your timeline through Twitter's retweet feature.

Are there limits on retweets?

There's no limit to the number of times a Tweet can be retweeted, but Twitter will only show the most recent 100 people who retweeted any public tweet.