Twitter Follow Limit: 4 Secrets To Bypass These Hurdles

Twitter, the popular social media platform, has certain limits in place to prevent spam and abuse. One such limit is on how many accounts a user can follow per day. Exceeding this Twitter follow limit will lock your account from following more people temporarily.

So what is this Twitter follow limit? Why does it exist? And how can you get around it to grow your followers within Twitter’s rules? This in-depth guide will uncover all you need to know!

X (Twitter) Limits

Type	Limit	Detail
Max Characters per tweet	4,000 (Twitter Blue Subscribers)	280 (Free accounts) As of March 2023, Twitter users who are enrolled in the Twitter Blue paid subscription can send Tweets with up to 4,000 characters. Free account users have a maximum of 280 characters per Tweet. Twitter expanded from the original 140 to 280 back in November 2017. And in September 2016, media attachments, links, and screen names in replies stopped contributing to the character limit.
Max Characters per direct message	10,000	Spread across a 24-hour period. There are also separate limits per half-hour period, so you won’t be able to tweet all 2,400 in one go. The half-hour limit is unknown for now. Retweets count towards the limit.
Tweets	2,400 per day	Max upload size of 2 MB. Supports PNG, GIF, or JPEG.
Direct Messages	1,000 per day
Changes to email address	4 per hour
Following	1,819	Above 1,819 you can follow this number +10%.
Number of Lists	1,000	You can only have 1,000 lists (this includes ones you have created and the ones you follow). Before May 30th, 2013, the maximum number of lists was 20.
Number of people in a list	5,000	Before May 30th, 2013, the max accounts per list was 500.
Number of people you can follow	400 per day (or 1,000 for verified accounts)	Standard Twitter accounts can follow up to 400 accounts per day. If your account is verified, you can follow up to 1,000 accounts per day. Thanks to Solomon (in the comments) for the update here. See more here.
How many people you can unfollow	Unknown	Twitter doesn’t state this, but you are likely to get banned if you unfollow people aggressively. I’d recommend sticking well under 400 unfollows per day.
Max Characters for biography	160
Max length of video uploads	2’20” (140 seconds)	MP4 video format with H264 format with AAC audio. Max upload of 512MB.
Twitter In-Stream Photo Size	1024x512px	Max upload size of 5Mb (or 3Mb for animated GIFs). Supports PNG, GIF, or JPEG.
Twitter Profile Picture Size	400x400px	Max upload size of 5 MB. Supports PNG or JPEG.
Twitter Header Image Size	1500x500px	Max upload size of 5Mb. Supports PNG or JPEG.
Number of Twitter accounts one phone number can be added to	10	See phone FAQs.

Is There a Follow Limit on Twitter Now X?

Yes, Twitter still has a follow limit in place as of October 2023. The specifics of the limit are:

• You can follow up to 400 accounts per day under normal conditions.
• You can follow up to 5,000 accounts per day if you’ve applied for and been granted an increased follow limit by Twitter.
• Exceeding either of these limits will trigger the “Limit reached – You are unable to follow more people at this time” notice.

Also read: How to Scrape Twitter Followers: The Ultimate 2023 Guide

Twitter Follow Limit Explained

With he crucial number to keep in mind is 1,819. With 1,819 followers, you can surpass the 2,000 follower limit set by Twitter. If you have fewer than 1,819 followers, you are restricted to following 2,000 people. 

However, once you exceed 1,819 followers, you can follow an additional 10% (which equals 182). So, at 1,819 followers plus 10%, you can follow 2,001 people, effectively breaking the 2,000 limit – a reason to celebrate!

On October 27, 2015, Twitter announced an increase in the following limit from 2,000 to 5,000. While I haven’t personally verified this, the same system likely applies to this new limit. To exceed the limit, you’ll need more than 4,545 people following you before you can break through the 5,000 limit. Share your thoughts on this!

There’s also a limit on how rapidly you can follow people. Twitter has enforced a technical restriction of 1,000 followers per day – thankfully. 

However, exceeding this technical limit and following that many people daily is likely to result in a ban, as it violates Twitter’s Following Rules and best practices (which you should read if you haven’t already). As of March 2019, Twitter states that regular accounts cannot follow more than 400 people, or 1,000 if your account is verified.

So in short – the Twitter follow limit still exists, though the allowed numbers have increased over the years. Keep reading to understand the reasons behind this limit and how to avoid triggering it.

Why Does X aka Twitter Follow Limit Exist?

Twitter places a limit on how many accounts you can follow each day to prevent spamming and abusive behavior on their platform. Here’s why they see a per-day follow limit as necessary:

• Prevents spammers: Spammers often mass-follow tons of accounts every day simply to garner attention to their profile and spammy content. The following limit prevents these bad actors from spam following at a massive scale.
• Stops automated bots: Bots can be programmed to automatically follow thousands of accounts per day. The follow limit acts as a roadblock to wide-scale bot activity.
• Avoids compromising the user experience: If accounts could follow unlimited users per day, people’s timelines would become oversaturated by new incoming follows. Twitter wants to keep the experience manageable.
• Limits fake follower services: Services selling fake followers rely on mass-following real accounts. The following limit restricts how many fake follows they can achieve per day.
• Reduces server load: Mass following activity places strain on Twitter’s infrastructure. Rate-limiting follow actions lessens this burden.

So in summary, Twitter sees capping daily followers as crucial to promoting real community engagement and an optimal user experience on their platform. But you may still want to grow your own following faster – so how can you do so within the rules?

Also read: Rate Limit Exceed on Twitter: A Comprehensive Guide to Fix It in 2023

Why did X, Previously Twitter, limit followers to 400 per Day?

The daily follow limit of 400 accounts per day has been Twitter’s policy for many years now. Why specifically 400 follow? Here are some likely reasons behind Twitter arriving at this magic number:

• Follows public figure norms: Most non-spammy users don’t follow over 400 accounts per day. Public figures follow 1-200 daily. So 400 is the upper limit of typical activity.
• Prevents overwhelming others: Following over 400 accounts daily could overwhelm recipients with notifications and feel like spam. Keeping followers under this threshold prevents this.
• Technical limitations: Twitter’s systems may face challenges handling over 400 followers per account daily across their millions of users.
• Legal obligations: The 400 follow limit may be tied to legal agreements related to limiting abusive behavior.
• Historical precedent: The number has simply become standard policy over time. Past technical or legal issues may have first necessitated the limit.

The exact inner workings of why Twitter arrived at 400 specifically are not publicly known. But the above reasons provide some logical explanations for this longtime Twitter standard daily follow limit.

Also read: Using Twitter Ads to Increase Followers

Twitter Follower Limit for Breaking the Terms of Service or Rules

Apart from the standard follow limits, Twitter will also temporarily limit your ability to follow more accounts if you break their Terms of Service or platform rules.

Some examples of behavior that could get your following limited include:

• Aggressively following and then unfollowing tons of accounts in an attempt to gain followers.
• Using automated bots or services to mass-follow users is in violation of Twitter’s automation rules.
• Repeatedly following and then blocking accounts in order to spam or harass other users.
• Creating multiple spam accounts that follow each other or target other users to spread disinformation.
• Following hundreds of accounts in a short burst to artificially inflate your follower numbers.
• Violating Twitter rules around abusive behavior, threats, hate speech, or violence.

The extent of the limit placed on further follows depends on the severity of the violation. It may last just hours or days for minor infractions but up to weeks for severe abuses of the platform.

The takeaway? While you may want to grow your followers faster, avoid any tactics that explicitly break Twitter’s policies. Doing so may severely limit your account’s follow abilities when caught.

What Should You Do When You See the X or Twitter Follower Limit Reached Message?

Seeing the “Limit reached – You are unable to follow more people at this time” notice pop up can be frustrating if you’re eager to continue growing your following. But don’t panic – here are some constructive steps to take:

• Wait it out: The following limit is temporary, so just hold off on follows for a day or two for it to lift.
• Review your behavior: Did you do anything excessive that may have triggered the limit? Reflect so you can avoid this in the future.
• Double-check your count: The notice can also appear in error sometimes – confirm you didn’t follow over 400 today.
• Reach out to support: If you believe the limit was applied unfairly, contact Twitter support to appeal.
• Focus elsewhere: Shift to other engagement like tweeting great content and commenting on others’ tweets for a day instead of just following.

With a little patience, the follow limit will reset and you’ll be back taking full advantage of your daily follow allowance again.

What To Do When Twitter or X Follow Limit Is Due to Policy Violation?

If Twitter has imposed a follow limit on your account due to violating their platform policies, here are some productive ways to respond:

• Learn from it: Read Twitter’s rules closely to understand exactly which policy you broke so it doesn’t happen again.
• Appeal if unfair: If you believe the violation allegation was unjust, reach out to Twitter support to appeal the decision.
• Wait it out: Most first-time violations lead to temporary limits, so let it pass and you’ll be back up soon.
• Change behaviors: Understand why your actions were deemed abusive or spammy and modify your approach going forward.
• Focus elsewhere for now: Use the time to build relationships with current followers by engaging with their content.
• Consider deleting problematic content: If your violation was due to specific tweets, deleting them may help lift the limit.
• Be patient: Repeated violations could extend your limit, so rebuild Twitter’s trust in you before aggressively following again.

A follow limit due to violations is Twitter sending you a message to tweak behaviors. Heed that feedback and you’ll be back following freely in no time.

How Long Does Follow Limit Last on Twitter, Now X?

If you do hit Twitter’s follow limit, how long does the restriction on follows remain in place? The exact duration can vary, but here are the general timeframes:

• First-time offense: 24-48 hours. Your follow limit will lift after a day or two if this is your first instance of hitting the cap.
• Repeat offenses: 3-7 days. If your account has triggered the following limit multiple times before, the duration of the restriction tends to increase.
• Policy violations: 1-4 weeks. More severe limits tied to ToS violations can potentially last weeks before being lifted.
• Appeals: Immediate to 24 hours. If you appeal an unfair limit via Twitter support, it may be lifted immediately or within a day if your appeal is accepted.

So in summary, first-timers can expect a day or two timeouts, while repeat offenders may be limited for up to a week at a time. Plus violations bring even longer restrictions of potentially several weeks. But submitting an appeal can lead to a surprisingly quick restoration of your account’s follow abilities.

How To Avoid Twitter Follow Limit aka X Follow Limit?

Now that you understand the reasons for Twitter’s follow limits, how can you strategically grow your Twitter following while avoiding triggering annoying restrictions? Here are some smart tactics to employ:

Unfollow Accounts Who Don’t Follow You Back

One easy way to open up more daily follow capacity is to unfollow accounts that don’t reciprocate by following you back. This pruning makes room to follow new, more promising accounts.

Engage With Active Accounts

Take the time to engage and build relationships with accounts you do follow via likes, retweets, and thoughtful replies. Follow quality over quantity.

Follow the Warm-up Technique

Don’t rapidly follow hundreds right off the bat. Build up slowly each day, say 25-50 new followers at once, then take long breaks before the next batch.

Don’t Break Twitter’s aka X’s Rules and Policies

Avoid tactics like auto-following bots, mass-following then unfollowing, or using services to inflate follows. Stick to Twitter’s guidelines.

Using these smart, legitimate techniques of regular pruning follows, engaging thoughtfully, warming up slowly, and avoiding clear violations, you can grow a quality following quickly while staying comfortably under Twitter’s daily follow limits!

Conclusion

Twitter’s follow limits can seem like roadblocks when you want to rapidly expand your reach, but they exist for good reasons – to control spam, bots, and abuse. By understanding the rationale behind the limits, as well as following best practices for avoiding triggers, you can grow your audience faster while staying within Twitter’s rules.

So be strategic, don’t take shortcuts that violate policies, and focus on building genuine connections and community. Do so and you’ll never have to worry about pesky follow limits hampering your Twitter experience. Just follow the guidance in this article and you’ll be on your way to follow limit-free growth and engagement!

Table: Twitter Follow Limits Summary

Follow Limit Type	Max Daily Follows	Duration if Exceeded
Standard Follow Limit	400 follows	24-48 hours
Increased Follow Limit	5,000 follows	24-48 hours
Policy Violation Limit	Varies	1-4+ weeks

Latest News: Twitter Follow Limit Increased to 5000 in 2021

In 2021, Twitter enacted a new policy where accounts could apply to increase their daily follow limit from 400 up to 5000 follows per day. This was likely in response to the growing user base and need for larger accounts to grow faster, while still capping follows enough to prevent exploits.

There is an application process to get the higher limit activated, requiring submitting details on the specific need for more follows. Approval is at Twitter’s discretion based on assessing for potential abuse risks.

This new 5000 follow ceiling represents Twitter’s continual tweaking of its limits to strike a balance between allowing legitimate growth while limiting harmful behavior – great news for accounts wanting to grow faster within Twitter’s rules!

Frequently Asked Questions About Twitter Follow Limits