How to Detect Who Is Logged Into Twitter

Unlike instant messaging programs, Twitter does not indicate online status.

No direct way exists to detect who is logged in to Twitter, but you can indirectly detect a user's online status by reading the time stamps. Time stamps appear below the content of tweets in the form of "1 hour ago," "40 seconds ago," "1 month ago" and so on. However, the fact that someone has not tweeted in awhile does not mean she is not logged in to Twitter. The only way to find that out is to ask her.

Instructions

1. Log in to Twitter using your Twitter username and password.

2. Type "@" followed by a Twitter username to begin composing a public mention or "at-reply" to the user. If you and the user follow each other, you can privately start composing a direct message by typing "d" followed by a space and the username. This method works for Twitter on the Web, the multitude of mobile Twitter apps and SMS tweeting -- and specific Twitter apps may have additional methods for sending an at-reply.

3. Type a space followed by a message to the user asking whether he is logged into Twitter and available to tweet. If the user replies, then you know he is logged in at the moment.

References

• Twitter Help Center: What Are @Replies and Mentions?
• Twitter Help Center: What Is a Direct Message? (DM)