How to Find People on X (Formerly Twitter) by Email

The people you know make the best followers

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What to Know

  • Open the app on your mobile device. Swipe right to open the menu.
  • Select More > Settings and Privacy > Privacy and safety > Discoverability and Contacts.
  • Turn on Sync address book contacts. You'll see people already on the platform. Select Follow next to their names.

This article explains how to find people you know on X (formerly Twitter) by importing your phone contacts to the platform. The article also includes tips on using the app.

Find People on X by Importing Your Email Contacts

You finally launched an X account, and you want to get more followers quickly. Who better to recruit than people you already know? You can search for and follow people using their email addresses located in your address book. Here's how to do it via an Android or iOS device:

  1. In the app, swipe right to open the menu.

  2. Select More > Settings and Privacy > Privacy and safety > Discoverability and Contacts.

  3. Turn on Sync address book contacts. This causes the app to upload contacts on an ongoing basis and use those contacts as suggestions for who to follow on the social network.

    Syncing address book contacts in Twitter

    Turning off sync later won't remove contacts you've already uploaded.

  4. Grant the app permission to access your contacts if necessary.

  5. Once you import your contacts, the platform will highlight the ones who are already using the platform. Follow those individuals by selecting Follow next to their usernames, or add all of them at once by selecting Follow all.

Searching for Contacts on X

You can search for people by name in the main search box on the site. You can find them via email address or phone number, but only if they activate those features in their Privacy and Safety settings. Many users either don't turn the features on intentionally or don't realize they're there, so you may not have any luck finding someone by searching for an email address. It doesn't hurt to try, though.

More on X and Email

Here are a few more things to keep in mind about imported contacts and X:

  • X doesn't let you create a new account using an email address that's already in use. To create five accounts, for example, you need five unique email addresses.
  • If you want to change your email address, go to your profile > Settings and Privacy > Account and replace your current email address with your new one. Enter your password to confirm the request. Then it sends a confirmation email to the new address and asks you to click a link.
  • If you're getting too many emails from the site, you can update your preferences. To manage your email notifications, go to Profile > Settings and privacy > Email notifications. Review the list and check or uncheck the different types of email notifications you want to receive.
  • If you get an email that looks suspicious, forward it to spoof@twitter.com. Emails that look fishy and ask you for your login information are called phishing emails.
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