How to Find People on Twitter

Find your friends, celebrities, and just about anyone on Twitter with these quick tricks

Written by Travis Boylls

Last Updated: October 25, 2022 Tested

Find a Specific Person

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Find Your Contacts

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Find New People to Follow

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Video

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Q&A

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Tips

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Warnings

Millions of people use the popular social networking site Twitter, including public figures, celebrities, and likely even your friends, family, and coworkers. Finding people to follow on Twitter, whether you know them personally or not, is easy to do, and should be the first step once you’ve created your account! This wikiHow article teaches you how to find people on Twitter.

Things You Should Know

If you don't know the person's Twitter username, try searching for their real name or nickname.
Sync your iPhone or Android phone contacts to find friends and family with Twitter accounts.
Twitter's suggested contacts can help you find popular Twitter users and mutual friends to follow.

Method 1

Method 1 of 3:

Find a Specific Person

1
Open Twitter. Twitter has a blue icon with a white bird in the middle. Tap the Twitter icon on your Home screen or Apps menu to open Twitter. If you are using a desktop computer, navigate to https://twitter.com/ and sign-in to your account if you haven't already.
- If you have not already created an account, read our great article about how to join Twitter.
2
Know the person's name or username. Twitter offers two different identifiers for an account -- usernames and real names. Usernames are marked by the '@' symbol. Real names are the real name of the person.
- If the person you are trying to find has a common name, it will be more efficient to know their username. Usernames are unique to each user while real names are not.
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3
Use the search bar. If you are using the mobile app, tap the icon that resembles a magnifying glass at the bottom of the screen to display the search bar. If you are using a PC, the search bar is in the upper-right corner. Enter a real name or username in the search bar. You will see 6 different options for specifying search results.
- Top: This will include a combination of the most popular accounts, tweets, photos, and videos that include your search term.
- Live: This shows a livestream of tweets with your search term. For example, if you searched "Bill Clinton," it will show the most recent tweets, photos, or videos about Bill Clinton.
- Accounts: Shows a list of accounts with your search term as the real name. The most popular accounts will be ordered first. If you are searching for a celebrity, like Hugh Jackman, the first account will likely be the actual account. However, if you are searching for a friend named John Smith, you may need to browse through the accounts to find the right John Smith. This is when you should search using the @username, instead.
- Photos: Shows a list of photos related to your search term.
- Videos: Shows a list of videos related to your search term.
- More Options: Lets you narrow your search by location or from people you follow.
4
Click or tap the username of the person you want to follow. This displays the person's account.
5
Click or tap Follow. It's the white button below the cover picture at the top of the page. You will start seeing tweets and retweets from the person on your home page.
6
Find a celebrity. Celebrities do not always use their real name on Twitter. Occasionally, their real name will be already used. In this case, it may be best to search for them by their username. Look around the web for the correct username.
- The verified account will also have a checkmark next to it.

Method 2

Method 2 of 3:

Find Your Contacts

1
Open Twitter on your mobile phone or tablet. Twitter has a blue icon with a white bird in the middle. Tap the icon on your Home screen or Apps menu to open Twitter.
2
Tap your profile icon. It's in the upper-left corner. This displays a pop-out menu to the left.
- If you are using a tablet, tap the icon with three dots in the menu bar to the left.
3
Tap Settings and privacy. It's at the bottom of the pop-out menu to the left.
4
Tap Privacy and safety. It's the second option in the Settings and Privacy menu.
5
Scroll down and tap Discoverability and contacts. It's near the bottom of the Privacy and safety menu.
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Tap the checkbox or toggle switch next to "Sync address book and contacts." This allows Twitter to upload contacts from your address book on your mobile phone periodically. This allows Twitter to suggest accounts for you to follow and personalize your content.
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Tap Sync Contacts. A pop-up will appear asking you to confirm that you want to sync your contacts. Tap Sync Contacts to allow Twitter to do so.
8
Allow Twitter to access your contacts. If you have not already done so, you need to allow Twitter to access your contacts. Tap Allow or Ok to allow Twitter to access your contacts.

Method 3

Method 3 of 3:

Find New People to Follow

1
Open Twitter. Twitter has a blue icon with a white bird in the middle. Tap the Twitter icon on your Home screen or Apps menu to open Twitter. If you are using a desktop computer, navigate to https://twitter.com/ and sign-in to your account if you haven't already.
2
Tap the magnifying glass icon. It's the second option at the bottom of the screen. This displays the search bar as well as some suggestions for you.
- If you are viewing Twitter on a desktop computer, click Explore in the menu panel to the left instead.
3
Scroll down and locate "Who to follow." On the mobile app, it's a little way down the list of suggestions. On a desktop computer, it's in the small window in the upper-right corner.
4
Click or tap Follow next to any suggestions you want to follow. You will start seeing tweets from that account.

Community Q&A

Question

How do I find people on Twitter?

Community Answer

You can use the search function to find them.
Question

Can I see if someone is on Twitter without having an account?

Community Answer

You can search someone up on twitter but you cannot see if someone is actually on their account, even with an account. Look for recent posting activity and retweets.
Question

Is there a limit to the number of accounts I can follow?

WF

Top Answerer

Every user can follow 5000 people. Once you've followed 5000 users, there are limits to the number of additional users you can follow; this limit is different for every user and is based on your ratio of followers to following.

Warnings

Avoid sending requests to follow people you don't know. While not terribly harmful, they will most likely ignore your request, or if you persist, block you from adding them.

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