About the Tweet Location Feature

Below are some answers to common questions regarding tweeting with your location. If you're wondering how to Tweet with your location, please see our How to Tweet with Your Location and How To Use the Location Feature on Mobile Devices articles.

How does Twitter use my location information?

  • Tweeting with your location allows you to selectively add location information to your Tweets. This feature is off by default and you will need to opt-in to use it.
  • Once you've opted in to this feature, Twitter will be able to:
    • Show your followers the location you are tweeting from as part of your Tweet. You can control this setting on a per-Tweet basis. (Note: Some third-party applications will let you tweet with your exact address or coordinates.)
    • Enable delivery of location-specific trends and Tweets, that are personalized for your location, when accessing Twitter via a mobile device. Learn more.

I have questions about privacy and Tweeting with my location.

Even after you enable tweeting with your location in your settings, you have additional control over which Tweets (and what type of location information) is shared. We want you to have control over how and when your location information is shared. With this in mind:

  • Tweet Location is off by default, and as a user you need to opt-in to the service.
  • You can turn Tweet Location on or off at any time, or clear your location before you tweet.
  • You can delete all of your past location data with a single click (see How to Tweet with Your Location for step-by-step instructions).
  • Be cautious and careful about the amount of information you share online. There may be some updates where you want to share your location ("The parade is starting now." or "A truck just spilled delicious candy all over the roadway!"), and some updates where you want to keep your location private. Just like you might not want to tweet your home address, please be cautious in tweeting coordinates you don't want others to see.
  • Remember that when you're opted in to Tweet Location, you can still choose not to share your location for individual Tweets, or choose a more general location level if your application allows.
  • Please familiarize yourself with our general location settings and the settings of any applications and devices you tweet with so that you are always aware of the information you share.
  • Remember, once you post something online, it’s out there for others to see.

What location information is displayed?

  • All geolocation information begins as a location (latitude and longitude), sent from your browser or device. Twitter won't show any location information unless you've opted-in to the feature, and have allowed your device or browser to transmit your coordinates to us.
  • For each Tweet, we will publicly display whatever location information you've elected to share. For example, if you update from Twitter Mobile and have specified that a particular Tweet should show your neighborhood, these coordinates can be seen on twitter.com, mobile.twitter.com, and in third-party applications.
  • Application developers are required to be up-front and obvious about whether your exact coordinates, or just the place, will be displayed. When you tweet from a third-party application or mobile device, it should be clear which type of data will be publicly displayed.

Why do I see an exact location for some Tweets, but only the general vicinity (neighborhood or city) for others?

  • The default display is place location (like neighborhood or town), but some third-party apps let you tweet with your exact location or address.
  • If you select your exact location to be displayed through a third-party app, the actual coordinates can be publicly shared.
  • Location information is displayed underneath the text of the Tweet.

What location information does Twitter store?

  • Twitter stores the location information that is publicly displayed with a Tweet for as long as the Tweet exists (or until you click the Clear my location history button on the settings page as described here). This is similar to how we store the timestamp that says when the Tweet was made.
  • If you chose to tweet with a place, but not to share your exact coordinates, Twitter still uses and stores your coordinates to determine your place, and will temporarily store those coordinates for 6 months.
  • This helps improve the accuracy of our geolocation systems (for example, the way we define neighborhoods and places).

What about international users?

We're working on rolling Tweet Location features out to other countries as fast as we can!

Having trouble?

Our Account Settings troubleshooting section has answers to common problems.