You can not only mute conversations or other accounts on Twitter, but you can also mute a specific word (thanks to a tweet by @nonprofWHIT). You can even do it from a tweet.
Twitter has now announced that when you mute a word or phrase, it will no longer appear in your Explore tab or Event-based notifications.
This is how you do it.
ON AN IPHONE, MUTE WORDS OR PHRASES
It’s a simple process if you’re using the Twitter app on an iPhone:
- Long-press the word you want to silence.
- From the pop-up menu, select “Mute.”
- You’ll be taken to a page where you can select where you want to mute the word (your timeline or notifications), who you want to mute the word from (anyone or people you don’t follow), and for how long (forever, 24 hours, seven days, or 30 days).
MUTE WORDS OR PHRASES ON AN ANDROID PHONE
Don’t give up if you have an Android phone. You can also mute words in the Android Twitter app (or the iOS Twitter app) by going to the app’s settings. It’s not as quick as doing it directly from a tweet, but it’s equally effective.
- Choose your icon from the upper left corner.
- Choose “Settings and privacy” > “Privacy and security” > “Mute and block.”
- Select “Muted words.”
- Tap the plus sign and type in the word you’d like to mute. You then have the same options for where, from whom, and duration.
Return to the “Muted words” screen, tap on the word in question, and select the appropriate option (“Delete the word” or “Change mute time”).
MUTE WORDS OR PHRASES ON YOUR DESKTOP
Finally, if you’re tweeting from Twitter’s website, you can mute a word there as well.
- From the left-hand menu on your desktop, select “More” > “Settings and privacy” > “Privacy and safety” > “Mute and block.”
- Click on “Muted words” in the right column. In the upper right corner, click the plus sign.
- You can now enter the word or phrase that you want to mute. You can choose whether to mute from your timeline or notifications, from anyone or people you don’t follow, and for how long, just like in the mobile Twitter apps.
- When you’ve finished making your selections, click “Save.”
- Return to the “Muted words” column if you want to unmute any words. Click on the red crossed-out volume symbol to the right of the word, and then on the pop-up window that appears, click “Unmute.”
ADDITIONAL COMMENTS
Twitter allows you to mute various types of information in your timeline and notifications in a variety of ways. As an example:
- You can also use the @ symbol in front of an account name to mute specific mentions of that account (but not the account itself).
- When you mute a word, you also mute its hashtag.
- Muting is case-insensitive (“spoilers” and “SPOILERS” will both work), and you can use punctuation (“Hey, you!”).
- Twitter is expanding its ability to mute words, phrases, and other content beyond timelines and notifications. It was only yesterday that it was announced that blocked or muted text would no longer appear in Event-based areas.