How to Read Comments on Twitter

Twitter is one of the most open social networking platforms out there: You can chat with anyone in real time without being friends with that person.

While being an awesome social media platform, Twitter functionality is not always easy to figure. Many Twitter users are usually confused when it comes to finding replies on Twitter.

Why Can’t I See Comments on Twitter?

You can: You just need to know where to look for them. People tend to click “Comment” icon for each individual tweet to see replies but it opens a dialog to post a comment instead:

How to View Comments on Twitter?

Time needed: 5 minutes

Step 1: Click on the timestamp showing when the tweet was published
When viewing Twitter timeline or anyone’s Twitter profile, click on the timestamp* showing when the tweet was published
Step 2: Scroll to the very bottom to see Twitter replies to that tweet

*Alternatively, you can click on the tweet itself and it will open up in the overlay. Just be careful not to click on a hashtag or a link inside the tweet (which will open hashtag search results or the linked page instead)

Watch this video here: How To See Comments On Twitter

The same trick works both on desktop (using any browser) and Twitter mobile app (iPhone or Android). It will also work on third-party social media management apps and Twitter clients like Hootsuite and Tweetdeck.

This will include only direct replies to a Tweet (those that were posted publicly). Do not confuse a reply to a direct message (i.e. DM) which is a private message.

Some people use “Retweet with comment” option to post replies to any tweets.

Retweet with comment on Twitter — [If people click “Retweet” icon and then post a comment, these comments won’t show up below the tweet]

Don’t worry: Those can still be found:

How to Find All “Retweet with Comment” Replies for a Particular Tweet?

Right click / double-tap on the on the timestamp showing when the tweet was published and select “Copy link Address” (Google Chrome) or “Copy Link Location” (Firefox) or “Copy link” (Safari)
Paste the URL into Twitter Search field and you will see all the retweets with comment to this particular tweet

Find All 'Retweet with Comments' Replies

How to See Comments on Twitter NOW

Knowing how to see other people’s comments on Twitter may turn useful in many cases, for example:

Journalistic research: Journalists and writers (bloggers) can find more people to quote and opinions to embed in their articles, especially when it comes to hot trends that are happening now. Twitter conversations always provide fresh insight and angles.
Anyone can find interesting discussions to join (to participate in a conversation or get more followers)
Bloggers can find all the discussions around content they publish to engage and interact with their readers (To generate more comments)
Anyone can find more funny comments on any popular tweets (Think political debates, for example)
Instant content ideation and inspiration: Writers can find more questions to cover in their articles, or more experts to connect to.
Anyone can find relevant animated GIFs to download from Twitter
Anyone can find cool (and more importantly, real) Twitter accounts to follow

And how do you use Twitter? Let’s discuss!

Here’s our video instruction: How To See Comments On Twitter

Posted

Connect

Stan Profy

Tags:

networking, twitter

Comments

16 responses to “How to Read Comments on Twitter”

Drew

What a terrible design that I had to google this and I am a software engineer.
Reply
1. Jan
  
  I thought the same tthing. I’ve been working with computers since the 70s and twitter is the least intuitive design I’ve ever come across.
  Reply
  1. khaja
    
    worst site ever
    Reply
Joe Momma

HORRIBLE design, this makes zero sense!
Reply
Saravana

Thank God! Finally I figured this out from here. LOL!
Reply
Sierra

I still can’t see them….
Reply
Ash

Thank you God! I can finally figured this out LOL
Reply
1. Jan
  
  If only I could figure out who the commenter is replying to in a long string!
  Reply
  1. Maria
    
    Yes!! That’s my issue too! I’m a newborn to twitter…I don’t know how to respond sometimes…short sentence or my usual complete response I’m used to doing on fb.
    Reply
Esther Johnson Johnson

Does everyone see their comment as a top comment first at the top?
Reply
Mike

Thanks for this! I finally understand why people can view – and ‘like’ my comments while I couldn’t see their comments! I live and learn 🙂
Reply
Zach

This is the worst design ever. This explanation page with graphic explanations looks like something out of TheOnion, as an explanation to us ‘illiterate morons’ (sarcasm). Moreover, the mobile app functions entirely different from what is described here. In reality, I too am a software engineer and does not follow any standard/predictable UX/UI flow. This counter non-intuitive nightmare should be a crime. Moreover, what makes the situation worse is Twitter itself, in theory could be coded from ground up in 1-2 days by anyone with intermediate server-side scripting knowledge/SQLDB/HTML5/CSS/JQuery and I can guarantee the clone would be entirely more functional… none of this: you must login for download the app to see bullshit, too!
Reply
Google surfer

Ok…
“Hit the date to see comments”
How could someone can figure it out?
Reply
deep t

thank you very much 🙂 that was helpfull
Reply
Kelly Leatherman

Thank you for this, it’s my first day on X and I’m really unimpressed. To read comments, you DON’T click on comments, got it. Brilliant! Too many buttons and options for me but was happy to see I’m not alone in finding the app incredibly frustrating. SO glad I didn’t sign up for the fee service! Thanks again.
Reply