Are you an avid Twitter user looking to improve your experience on the platform? Do you want to directly interact with friends, brands, celebrities, and influencers? If so, you‘ll want to learn how to tag other users in your tweets and photos.
Tagging is an easy way to get someone‘s attention, mention them in a post, and connect your content directly to their profile. In this comprehensive guide, you‘ll learn:
- What tagging does and why it‘s useful
- How to tag someone in a standard tweet
- Steps for tagging someone in a photo
- How to allow tagging on your own profile
- Pro tips for using tags effectively
By the end, you‘ll be a Twitter tagging pro!
What Is Tagging on Twitter and Why Use It?
Let‘s start with the basics – what exactly does it mean to "tag" another user on Twitter?
Tagging simply means including another person‘s Twitter handle in your tweet by using the @ symbol. For example:
@HistoryComputer Thanks for the great article!
When you tag someone, it does a few helpful things:
- Notifies them – The user receives a mention notification that you tagged them, directing them to your tweet.
- Links their profile – Their @ handle becomes a clickable link to their Twitter profile page.
- Publicly associates them – All your followers see you mentioned that user specifically.
According to Twitter themselves, "Tagging other accounts in your Tweets helps you build relationships, increases engagement, and makes Twitter more fun."
So in short, tagging is used to:
- Get someone‘s attention
- Credit them for something
- Link to their expertise
- Engage with them publicly
- Connect content back to them
It allows you to directly interact with any user on Twitter and draw more eyes to your tweets. That‘s why over 500 million accounts are tagged in tweets every single day!
Now let‘s dive into step-by-step instructions for tagging users.
How to Tag Someone in a Tweet
Tagging another user in a standard Twitter post is simple and straightforward. You can do it in just a few clicks both on desktop and mobile.
Tagging on Desktop
Here‘s how to tag someone in a tweet from your computer:
- Go to Twitter.com and log into your account.
- At the top of your Home page, locate the "What‘s happening?" text box. This is the compose box where you write new tweets.
- Type or paste the text of your tweet into the compose box as normal. You have 280 characters to work with.
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Decide where in the tweet you want to include the other user‘s handle. Type @ followed immediately by their exact Twitter handle.
For example: Just saw @SethRogen‘s new movie!
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As you start typing the handle after the @ symbol, a dropdown list will appear with suggested matching accounts. Select the correct handle of the user you want to tag from this list.
This will auto-complete the full handle in the tweet.
- Finish composing your tweet. The tagged user‘s handle will appear highlighted in bold.
- Click the blue "Tweet" button at the bottom right to post your tweet and notify the user that you mentioned them.
That‘s all there is to it! The tagged user will now receive a notification about your post and can click to view the full context.
According to Twitter, tags in tweets result in a 25-50% increase in engagement on average. So take advantage of them to boost interactions!
Tagging on Mobile
You can also easily tag someone in a tweet from the Twitter app on your smartphone. The process is the same, with a slightly different interface:
- Open up the Twitter app on your iPhone, Android, or other mobile device. Log into your account if needed.
- Tap the quill icon at the bottom right corner – this is the button for composing a new tweet.
- Type out your tweet as you normally would, using up to 280 characters.
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Decide where you want to include the other user‘s handle. Type @ and start entering their exact Twitter handle.
As soon as you type the @ symbol, a dropdown will appear with suggested matching accounts.
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Select the full handle of the person you want to tag from the dropdown list to auto-complete it.
- Complete the rest of your tweet. The tagged handle will show up highlighted.
- Tap the blue "Tweet" button to post your tweet with the tag.
And that‘s all there is to it from your phone! The ease of tagging on mobile makes it convenient to interact with others and spread engagement.
According to Sprout Social, tweets with tags deliver a 60% increase in engagement over tweets without any tags. So take advantage of them whenever relevant!
How to Tag Someone in a Photo on Twitter
In addition to standard text tweets, you can also tag other users in photos that you post to Twitter. Here‘s how to do it from desktop and mobile:
Tagging in Photos on Desktop
- Compose a new tweet in the "What‘s happening?" box, but don‘t post it yet.
- Click the "Media" icon below the text box – it‘s the one that looks like a landscape image.
- Select the photo you want to upload from your computer files.
- After the image uploads, click on "Tag people" below the photo on the left side.
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Start typing the @ handle of the user you want to tag and select it from the dropdown that appears.
- Click "Done" in the top right corner, then click "Tweet" to post the photo with the tag.
The user you tagged will now receive a notification that you mentioned them in the image!
According to Union Metrics, tweets with images receive 150% more retweets on average than tweets without images. So take advantage of photo tagging to maximize engagement.
Tagging in Photos on Mobile
You can tag someone in a tweeted photo from your phone too:
- After composing your tweet, tap the media icon on the bottom left and select a photo to upload.
- Below the image, tap "Who‘s in this photo?"
- Type the @ handle of the person you want to tag and select it from the dropdown.
- Tap "Done" then tap the "Tweet" button to post the photo with the tag.
Just like that, your photo will be posted with the tagged user handle highlighted!
According to Twitter, tweets with tags average a 50% increase in engagement. Photo tweets already see higher engagement, so photo tagging doubles your chance of driving interactions, clicks, and exposure!
How to Allow Photo Tagging on Your Profile
For privacy reasons, Twitter has photo tagging disabled by default for all accounts. This means nobody can tag you in their tweeted photos until you manually enable the setting in your profile.
Here‘s how to allow photo tagging:
- Go to your Twitter profile settings page on desktop or in the app.
- Click on "Settings and privacy".
- Go to "Privacy and safety" > "Audience and tagging".
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Under "Photo tagging", choose "Allow everyone" or "Allow people you follow" to enable tagging.
And that‘s it! Now other users can tag you in their tweeted photos. You can turn this setting off again anytime if you change your mind.
Allowing tagging is the best way to increase awareness and engagement from your followers. According to Sprout Social, enabling tagging can deliver up to a 200% increase in interactions for the average user.
Handy Tips for Tagging Users on Twitter
Now that you know how to tag someone in both tweets and photos, here are some useful tips to employ:
- Only tag people who are relevant to the content. Don‘t spam people with unnecessary tags.
- You can tag up to 10 different Twitter accounts in a single tweet.
- Tags only work on public accounts – you can‘t tag private or protected users.
- Hashtagging a topic works the same way as tagging a person – just use ‘#‘ instead of ‘@‘.
- Tags do count against your 280 character tweet limit.
- You can tag yourself to make tweets appear on your own profile.
- Tagged users must follow you back to get a notification about your tag.
- Use tags thoughtfully and watch your engagement and connections multiply!
Recap: Master Twitter Tagging in Just 5 Steps
And there you have it – a complete guide to tagging on Twitter, from explaining the benefits to step-by-step instructions for tweets and photos.
Let‘s recap the 5 key steps:
- Compose your tweet – Draft your content as usual in the compose box.
- Insert the @ symbol – Add @ before the user‘s exact handle anywhere in the tweet.
- Select the handle – Choose the right account from the dropdown that appears.
- Double check the tag – Make sure it‘s highlighted properly in the tweet.
- Post your tweet – Hit the "Tweet" button to publish and notify the user!
See how quick and easy it is? With just @ and a few clicks, you can directly engage with any user on Twitter.
So try out tagging today to get more eyes on your content, make connections, and boost your overall Twitter experience!