Here are 13 tips for staying safe and secure on Twitter

Two-factor authentication (2FA)

Two factor authentication refers to adding extra layer of security to your account. When you enable this feature, you will be required to provide an additional security code or key, along with your password, when logging in, to ensure that only you can access your account.
Steps to activate two-factor authentication:

#In the side menu on your profile, click More, then click Settings and privacy.

#Click on Security and account access, then click Security.

#Click Two-factor authentication and choose from three authentication methods: text message, authentication app, or security key.

Enable password reset protection

If you enable password reset protection, Twitter will ask you to confirm your email address or phone number if you ever decide to reset your password. Use a strong password that you won’t use on other websites. This features comes handy incase your account is hacked, hacker won’t be able to lock you out from your account. Here’s how you can enable password reset protection.

#Go to  Settings and privacy

#Choose Security and account access and enable it

Beware of suspicious messages

Twitter  will never ask you to sign into a non-Twitter website, provide your password via email, Direct Message, reply or download something. Never open an attachment or install any software from an email that claims to be from Twitter; it’s not. Most importantly, don’t give your username and password out to third parties, and always make sure you’re on the official website before you enter your login information.

Protected Tweets

In a bid to reduce the burden on people dealing with unwelcome interactions, Twitter has rolled out Protected Tweets. You can choose to protect your tweets so that only your followers can view and engage with them.
To protect your tweets:

#In the side menu on your profile, click More, then click Settings and privacy

#Click on Privacy and safety, then click Audience and tagging

#Check the box next to Protect your Tweets

#At any time, you can unprotect your Tweets following the same steps

Location sharing

Twitter enables you to include your location on individual tweets and your profile. As a safety practice, you must avoid sharing information that could identify your home or office address, or where your children go to school. To change your location settings:

#Head to Settings and privacy from your profile menu, then click Privacy and safety

#Under Data sharing and off-Twitter activity, go to Location information

#Click on Add location information to your tweets

#If the box is checked, that means your location information attached to your Tweets is turned on. To turn off the Tweet location, uncheck the box.

Turn off photo tagging

To minimise sharing your name to the public, you can disable a feature that allows anyone to tag you in a photo or limit tagging by only those you follow. This can be found in:

#Go to Settings and privacy

#Click on Privacy and safety

#Now, go to Audience and tagging and turn off photo tagging.

Unfollow

If you’re no longer interested in the tweets from a certain account, or feel bothered by them, you can simply unfollow them. To unfollow an account:

#Open their profile.

#On the top right, you’ll see the ‘Following’ button. When you hover your pointer over it, it’ll prompt you to ‘Unfollow’. Click on the button.

Remove followers

If you don’t want a certain account to follow you, you can simply remove them from your list of followers without blocking them. To remove a follower

#Go to your follower list

#Click on the three-dot icon next to the ‘Following’ button against the account you want to remove

#From the menu, click on ‘Remove this follower’, and confirm by clicking ‘Remove’ again.

Stop unnecessary DMs

Direct Messages (DMs) settings allow you to filter out unwanted messages and limit messages from people you don’t follow.

If the setting is turned off, you will only receive messages from people you follow. You can also toggle the quality filter to exclude low-quality or potentially spammy DMs.

Hide replies

The Hide Replies features allow you to control who gets visibility in your conversations. If you believe a reply is spammy and detracts from the conversation, you can click on the reply and hide it. It should be noted that replies are not deleted but placed behind an extra click. While everyone can see the Tweet and conversation, depending on your setting, not everyone would be able to reply.

Mute

Twitter lets you restrict Tweets from certain accounts without unfollowing or blocking them by muting these accounts. You can still follow these accounts but will not see their Tweets on your timeline. You also use Advanced Mute to mute particular words, conversations, phrases, usernames, emojis, or hashtags. Here’s how you can Mute an account:

#Open their profile and click on the three-dot icon on the top-right.

#From the menu, click ‘Mute @username’. Confirm by clicking ‘Mute’ again.

Block

You can also choose to restrict certain accounts by blocking them. Accounts that you’ve blocked will not be able to contact you, see your Tweets, and/or follow you.To block an account:

# Open their profile and click on the three-dot icon on the top-right.

# From the menu, click ‘Block @username’. Confirm by clicking ‘Block’ again.

Report

If an account is bothering you with unwanted or spammy content, you can choose to report them. Reported profiles will be monitored by Twitter’s team on a recurring basis. Here’s how to report an account:
# Open their profile (account you want to report) and click on the three-dot icon on the top-right.

# From the menu, click ‘Report @username’.

#The page will then lead you to identify an issue under seven different topics, choose the one that rightfully indicates the one that concerns you and confirm.