You need to reference a tweet in your paper. It’s a common task now that social media is a primary source for breaking news and public discourse. But getting the citation right can feel like trying to nail jelly to a wall, especially with platforms in flux. This guide shows you how to cite a tweet correctly for the most common academic styles: APA, MLA, and Chicago. We’ll also cover what to do with tricky situations, like deleted posts.
TLDR: To cite a tweet, you need the author’s name, their Twitter handle (or X handle), the date of the post, the full text of the tweet (or the first 20 words for APA), the platform name (Twitter or X), and the direct URL. The exact format depends on the citation style your instructor requires.
How to Cite a Tweet in APA Style
The American Psychological Association, or APA, has a clear system for citing social media. The APA style emphasizes the author and the date of publication. It’s a clean and organized approach. The goal is to give your reader a direct path to the source you used, even if it’s just a 280-character post.
Here’s the basic following format:
Author Last Name, F. [@username]. (Year, Month Day). Up to the first 20 words of the post [Description of media, e.g., Image attached] [Tweet]. X. URL
Let’s look at a real example:
National Geographic [@NatGeo]. (2024, May 15). A new species of glowing frog was discovered deep in the Amazon rainforest, a vibrant testament to the planet’s undiscovered biodiversity [Image attached] [Tweet]. X. https://twitter.com/NatGeo/status/1234567890
Quick Tip: For APA style, if a tweet includes a video or an image, describe it in square brackets right after the text and before the “Tweet” descriptor. For a link attached to another article, you might write “[Thumbnail with link attached].”
Citing an Entire Twitter Profile
What if you want to discuss a person’s or organization’s entire feed rather than a single Twitter post? You would cite the whole Twitter profile. The approach is slightly different. You don’t include a specific date, since the profile’s content is always changing. Instead, you use “n.d.” (for “no date”) and add a retrieval date. This tells your reader when you accessed the live profile.
Musk, E. [@elonmusk]. (n.d.). Tweets [Twitter profile]. X. Retrieved July 23, 2025, from https://twitter.com/elonmusk
How to Cite a Tweet in MLA Style
MLA (Modern Language Association) style is often used in the humanities. Its structure for a tweet citation is a bit different, feeling more like a flowing sentence. The recent name change from Twitter to X caused some head-scratching, but MLA has clarified its stance. You should list “X” as the title of the container, but it’s wise to mention Twitter if the original post is from before the change.
Here’s the MLA format:
@Username (Author First Name Last Name, if known). “Full text of the tweet.” X, Month Day, Year, URL.
Sometimes I see a student paper that cites a whole thread. It’s a great way to show a developing conversation. MLA has specific guidance on citing threads, which involves citing the initial post and then referring to the conversation in your text.
How to Cite a Tweet in Chicago Style
The Chicago Manual of Style is common in historical and some social science publications. It offers two systems: notes and bibliography, and author-date. For a Twitter post, you’ll most often use the notes and bibliography format. The citation appears in a footnote or endnote, which keeps the main text looking clean. The sound of a keyboard clacking away while formatting footnotes is a familiar one for many history majors.
Here’s the note format:
Author First Name Last Name (@Username), “Twitter post,” Month Day, Year, time stamp, URL.
Chicago style is practical. As their Q&A page clarifies, you should list the platform as it was when the tweet was published. So for a 2022 tweet, you’d write Twitter. For a 2024 tweet, you’d write X.
Citation Styles at a Glance
| Style | Key Elements & Order | Best For |
|---|---|---|
| APA 7 | Author, [@handle]. (Date). Text (first 20 words) [Tweet]. X. URL | Social Sciences, Education, Psychology |
| MLA 9 | @handle. “Full text.” X, Date, URL. | Humanities, English, Arts |
| Chicago 17 (Note) | Author (@handle), “X post,” Date, URL. | History, Fine Arts, some social sciences |
Pro Tip: Juggling these formats can be a pain. A free citation generator can save you time and help avoid errors in your reference list. But always double-check its output against the official style guides, as automated tools aren’t perfect.
Citing Deleted or Edited Tweets
Here’s a modern problem. You cite a powerful tweet as evidence, but the author deletes it a week later. Now what? Your perfect citation points to a dead link. This digital ephemerality is a real challenge for academic integrity. Unlike a printed book, a social media post can vanish in an instant.
This is where your research practice needs to be sharp. If a tweet is central to your argument, you must preserve it. Take a screenshot. Save the page using the Wayback Machine (archive.org). In your paper, you can then cite the tweet in the standard format but add a note explaining that you have an archived copy. This shows foresight and protects your work from link rot. It’s similar to how you’d cite a website, but with an extra layer of preservation.
Do I use “Twitter” or “X” in my citation?
It depends on the style guide and the publication date of the tweet. Generally, for posts made before the July 2023 name change, you can use Twitter. For posts after, use X. Some styles, like MLA, simply recommend using X for all current citations. Always check the latest edition of your style guide.
What if the author’s author name and username are different?
Most styles require both if they are known. For example, in APA, you’d list the real author name first, followed by the Twitter handle in square brackets: Gates, B. [@BillGates]. If you only know the username, just use that.
How do I find the direct URL for a single tweet?
Click on the tweet itself to go to its unique page. You can also click the “share” icon on the post and select “Copy link.” This ensures your URL points directly to that specific tweet and not the general feed of the site.