How to See People's Background on Twitter

Twitter backgrounds can offer a way to become familiar with someone.

Customized Twitter backgrounds can help you learn more about a person or business if you know how to find them. Twitter provides a multitude of ways for people to connect and build a community that reflects their personal interests, professional careers or both. Many people utilize a customized backgrounds to include contact information, professional head-shots, logos and branding artwork or URL addresses to additional websites. Understanding both how to find people and how to learn more about potential contacts and friends will help you utilize the platform in a powerful manner.

Instructions

1. Log in to your Twitter account using your username and password. You can still view people's profile and background pages if you are not logged in, but you will not be able to interact with people or follow them if you find their background or profile interesting.

2. Find a person you wish to pursue further from your timeline or from conducting a Twitter search. A search can help you find relevant topics of discussion based on your interests and expose you to new communities with similar specialties. Go to www.Search.Twitter.com and enter a keyword based on your interest.

3. Click on that person's name or avatar to go to their profile page. The avatar is the image or logo associated with their username. Be sure you are logged into the main Twitter.com website, as many third-party Twitter apps will not display the user's background. A third-party application, such as www.Tweetdeck.com, www.Seesmic.com or www.Hootsuite.com, is designed by individual programmers using the Twitter API, or application program interface, to create a different means of interacting with Twitter. Most of these applications are powered by a column structure, allowing you to categorize your time lines using lists and you can scan the columns of conversation much easier than within the Twitter website, which only displays one time line or list at a time. These applications are usually free and are easy to install or access using the internet.

4. Select the person's link to their background page by selecting the "View Full Profile" link underneath their username on the slide-out menu that appears after selecting their name in the Twitter timeline. The slide-out menu will appear to the right of your main Twitter timeline and will contain the person's biography, an external link if they've added one and the basic options for following and categorizing people into lists. You will also see the most recent activity from the user underneath the following options.

5. View the person's Twitter background on as large of a monitor as possible. Twitter redesigned its site in 2010, and the new design eliminated a large amount of the background space for customized Twitter pages.

Tips & Warnings

• If you are trying to learn more about a person, their background may not tell you much about them, as many people stopped implementing informational Twitter backgrounds once the redesign occurred. Look for external links in their biographies to learn more about a person or follow their conversations on Twitter.

References

• Mashable; 10 Ways to Find People on Twitter; Josh Cantone; July 2009
• Mashable; Customize Your Background for the New Twitter; Christina Warren; October 2010

Resources

• Smashing Magazine; Effective Twitter Backgrounds; Saud Khan; September 2009
• Mashable; Make the Most of Your Twitter Profile Page; Amy-Mae Elliot; May 2010