Requirements for Twitter Embedding Tweets
The only limitation you're likely to encounter when using a service to embed tweets is that you cannot embed private tweets. Twitter doesn't have requirements for embedding single tweets or a tweet widget -- the limitations are all on the location where you're sharing your the embedded tweets. Twitter does not have a proprietary service for embedding single tweets, but it does offer specific recommendations for third-party services that do so.
Other People Are Reading
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Embedding Twitter Widgets
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Twitter offers four box-type widgets for displaying tweets in real time. These widgets can be used for your personal profile, for a search word or phrase, for your favorites or for a list you own. To embed one of these widgets you'll need a space that supports JavaScript. The widgets are fully customizable; you can change the colors, the dimensions and even the details displayed with each tweet in your stream widget.
Official Twitter Support
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In May 2010 Twitter introduced a service called Blackbird Pie that was designed to help users embed individual, fully interactive tweets on Web pages and blogs. However, this service is no longer available. Instead, Twitter links to four external services: Storify, Embedly, the WordPress plug-in Twitter Blackbird Pie and EmbedTweet. Storify is more a social networking site, but Embedly and EmbedTweet are both services that could work with any website. The WordPress plug-in is, of course, only compatible with WordPress.
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Choosing a Service
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If you're using a WordPress blog, the Twitter Blackbird Pie plug-in or the EmbedTweet plug-in will probably work best for you, as they do most of the heavy lifting. With the plug-ins installed, you just have to add a link to the Tweet you want to embed alone on a single line in your post; the plug-in does the rest. If you're running a self-hosted website or use another blogging platform, EmbedTweet may be easier; all it requires is a line of JavaScript to the head of your website, and then the same function: a single tweet URL alone on a line. Embedly's embedded tweets are a bit more showy -- including the use of the same background image of the Twitter profile page -- but you have to sign up for the service and run the tweet link through Embedly's website.
Why Embed a Tweet
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The biggest reason to embed a single tweet on a page is for complete interactivity. Screenshots are good for posterity and will stand if the Twitter owner later deletes the embedded tweet from their stream, but by embedding a tweet your visitors can click any links. By using text instead of an image, it also makes the information of that tweet available in a search function.
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References
- Photo Credit Joe Corrigan/Getty Images Entertainment/Getty Images
