Twitter sends various types of email notifications to keep users informed about activity related to their accounts. While some find these emails useful, many feel overwhelmed by the constant updates flooding their inbox.
This comprehensive guide covers different methods and strategies to control Twitter email notifications better. Read on to learn how to customize settings to your preferences, apply email filters, leverage unsubscribe tools, and take advantage of Twitter’s latest features.
Table of Contents
Categories of Twitter Notification Emails
Twitter sends emails related to the following types of activities:
Mentions
You will receive an email anytime someone mentions your Twitter @handle in a tweet. This allows you to stay updated on tweets where you were named.
Follower Updates
Twitter sends email alerts when someone new follows your account. You’ll also get notifications if an existing follower unfollows you.
Direct Messages
Whenever someone sends you a new direct message, an email is sent to your registered Address. This allows you to respond to DMs even when not logged into Twitter.
Twitter Newsletters
Twitter may periodically send digest-style emails recapping popular tweets, trends, moments, and new accounts to follow based on your interests and activity. These are essentially newsletters about the platform.
Twitter Survey Emails
Occasionally, Twitter will seek feedback through email surveys about new features they are developing or to gauge user sentiment. Participation is optional.
Security Alerts
You’ll receive email notifications related to account security, like password resets, email address changes, new sign-in attempts, etc. This acts as an early warning system for suspicious activity.
Marketing Emails
Twitter sends promotional emails for things like new features, live events, deals, newsletters subscriptions, etc. Most of these are optional and aimed at driving engagement.
Twitter Spaces Reminders
If you indicate interest in attending a scheduled Twitter Spaces audio chat, reminder emails are sent as the time approaches. This helps so you can take advantage of it.
Also read: Can People See What You Search on Twitter? Know the Latest Privacy Hacks in 2023
Order Updates
When you purchase something through Twitter, like a Blue subscription, tickets to an event, or shop from an integrated store, you’ll get emails related to order status, receipts, etc.
Research Surveys
Twitter may ask you to participate in voluntary research surveys aimed at improving their products and understanding user needs.
Customizing Your Twitter Email Settings
The easiest way to manage your Twitter email notifications is by adjusting settings:
Turn Email Notifications On or Off
In Settings > Notifications > Email notifications, you can toggle email notifications on or off for different categories like mentions, direct messages, follower updates, etc. Disable categories you don’t need to be emailed.
Set Email Frequency
Under Settings > Notifications > Email notifications, choose the frequency of digest notifications. Options include daily, weekly, or monthly digests combining notifications instead of sending each one. Setting this to daily or weekly can help reduce volume.
Unsubscribe from Newsletters
Every Twitter newsletter contains an unsubscribe link at the bottom. Click this to stop receiving that particular mailing. You can also manage all subscriptions under Settings > Account > Email subscriptions. Deselect any you want to unsubscribe from.
Update Your Email Address
If you want to change the email address tied to your Twitter account for receiving notifications, you can do this under Settings > Account > Email. Enter and confirm your new preferred email.
Review Connected Apps
Sometimes, apps connected to your Twitter account enable their email notifications without your knowledge. Under Settings > Security and account access > Apps and sessions, review any approved apps and revoke access to ones you don’t want integrating with your account or sending emails.
Use Verified Emails Only
In Settings > Notifications, check the box for “Only send notifications to verified email addresses I’ve added to my account.” This limits email to addresses you specifically confirmed control over.
Also read: A Guide to Customize Twitter Blue Settings
Leveraging Third-Party Email Tools
In addition to Twitter’s built-in controls, you can manage notifications using external tools:
Configure Email Filters
Most email providers allow you to set up filters and rules to sort incoming mail into folders automatically. Set up a filter to move all Twitter notification emails into a separate folder. This clears your general inbox.
Mute Noisy Email Threads
When a tweet gets lots of replies, the email thread can quickly become noisy and cluttered. Use your email client’s mute thread option to move particularly active conversations out of your inbox without fully unsubscribing.
Manage Subscriptions in Unroll. me
Tools like Unroll. I aggregate all your newsletter subscriptions in one dashboard. You can easily sort, unsubscribe, and otherwise manage subscriptions instead of digging through individual emails.
Disable Email App Notifications
In your smartphone email app, consider disabling notifications for your Twitter folder. This prevents constant interruption from alerts. Instead, check your Twitter email folder directly on your terms.
Route Twitter to an Alternate Address
If the notifications get overwhelming, you can temporarily route Twitter to forward emails to a secondary address while keeping your primary inbox clear. Then, check the secondary as needed.
Unsubscribe in Bulk
Do a bulk review of all subscriptions under Settings > Account > Email subscriptions and Settings > Notifications > Email notifications and uncheck any you can live without. This swiftly reduces email volume.
Use Snooze or Send-Later Functions
Tools like Boomerang and Mixmax allow you to snooze or schedule emails to be resent later temporarily, so they are off your plate. Useful for digesting and responding to Twitter conversations in more convenient batches.
Twitter’s Ongoing Email Improvements
Twitter is investing in improving notification emails, including:
Recap Email Digests
Twitter is developing recap emails that summarize top tweets, trends, etc., tailored to your interests over a period like the last 24 hours or week. This gives a quick briefing instead of constant updates.
Also read: Brands Exit Twitter: The Musk-led Advertiser Exodus
Scheduled Email Delivery
You may soon be able to select the time of day you want to receive your digest emails from Twitter. Optimize for when you typically check email.
Conversation Management Tools
Features to help manage busy threads, like muting, unsubscribing, changing email frequency, etc., are being tested to keep engagement while reducing clutter.
Enhanced Signup Preferences
Allowing new users to select the types of emails they want to receive or not when creating an account cuts down on disabling notifications later.
Smarter Relevance Targeting
Machine learning will curate Twitter emails around relevance to each user based on factors like activity and tweets interacted with, interests, etc., to improve the signal-to-noise ratio.
Best Practices for Managing Twitter Emails
Here are some top tips for controlling Twitter notifications:
- Regularly review settings and unsubscribe from non-essential emails
- Leverage digest emails, filters, and folders to consolidate notifications
- Mute noisy threads temporarily instead of unsubscribing
- Disable email and app notifications for Twitter if needed
- Specify preferred email address and frequency in settings
- Be cautious about sharing email addresses and enabling third-party app notifications
With the right combination of platform controls, email tools, and intelligent practices, you can stay updated on key Twitter notifications without being overloaded. Take time to customize configurations to suit your needs.
