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Anyone who uses Twitter should regularly delete their old tweets — here's how to do it

FILE PHOTO: A 3D-printed logo for Twitter is seen in this picture illustration on January 26, 2016.  REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration
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"Never tweet" is one of the most common phrases said on Twitter.

It's ironic, but it's true: Nothing good has ever come of a tweet. In fact, lots of people have lost their jobs — or worse — because of something they said on the service.

But if you do decide to post tweets, for one reason or another, you should also be deleting them.

We've outlined a guide on the various ways you can delete your tweets. It's really not hard to do, and you'll be glad you did it.

If you ever want to archive your tweets before deleting them, it's easy. First, open up settings under "more" on Twitter.

Twitter settings
Twitter

Under "data and permissions," select "your Twitter data."

Twitter delete tweets
Twitter

Next, just press the big button that says "Request archive." It might take awhile, but you'll eventually get an email from Twitter with a big ol' ZIP file full of old tweets.

Twitter archive tweets
Twitter

Now that you've saved your tweets for posterity, you can start working on deleting your tweets. You can search for specific offensive words in your past tweets, or delete them in batches at a time

fork road split diverge
Once you're done tweeting, you can go outside. Geograph via Google Images

How you choose to do that is up to you. You can search for specific words in your past tweets, or delete them in batches at a time.

To delete tweets with specific words, you'll use Twitter Advanced Search. Just search for any bad word you might be thinking of, and you'll be able to manually delete them.

Twitter Advanced search
Twitter

If you want to try a free service for deleting batches of old tweets at a time, lots of people swear by TweetDelete, which lets you delete Tweets with certain words, or tweets older than a certain age.

TweetDelete
TweetDelete

For more serious options, you'll have to pay. TweetDelete has the option to continually delete tweets after a specified time has passed for a one-time $15 fee.

Screen Shot 2020 07 02 at 4.17.13 PM
TweetDelete

There are also plenty of other options to choose from, like TweetDeleter.com

tweetdeleter delete tweets
TweetDeleter

TweetDeleter.com lets you fully delete your entire archive at once, or delete tweets of certain types, or tweets from a specific period of time, for $5.99 per month.

TweetDeleter
TweetDeleter

If you're on an iPhone, you can try Tweeticide. It costs $3, and it can similarly wipe out your 3,200 most recent tweets.

tweeticide twitter delete tweets
Apple

Xpire is another option for both iPhone and Android, which, — like the others — can delete up to 3,200 tweets, for $4.

xpire delete tweets
Google Play

If you really want to go nuclear, a surefire way to erase your tweets is to delete your account. Maybe it's time to start fresh, or leave Twitter entirely.

deactivate Twitter
Twitter

To delete your Twitter account, go to your Settings, click Account, then go to the bottom of the screen and click "Deactivate your account."

Twitter doesn't delete your account immediately; it holds your data for 30 days in case you change your mind.

FILE PHOTO: The Twitter application is seen on a phone screen August 3, 2017.   REUTERS/Thomas White
Reuters

After that 30-day period, though, you won't be able to reactivate your account, so you have a little time to decide if this is what you want. 

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Dave Smith is the front-page editor for Business Insider. His work has been published in Newsweek, ABC News, USA TODAY, Huffington Post, Forbes, ReadWrite, Inc. Magazine, The International Business Times, NPR, and elsewhere.
Mary Meisenzahl is a reporter covering labor, fast food, drive-thrus, and other retail news. Do you have a story to share about a retail or restaurant chain? Email this reporter at mmeisenzahl@jkmperu.com.