How to Import Contact Lists to Twitter

You can import your friends (known as contacts, in Twitter-speak) to the microblogging tool from other services — such as Gmail, Yahoo! Mail, AOL, and Hotmail — that you already use. Twitter will let you know who among your contacts are already busily Tweeting away as registered Twitterers.

To import contacts and make them part of your world during the Twitter registration process, follow these steps:

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Select the e-mail account type from which you want to import on the left side of the Twitter screen and type your e-mail credentials in the Your Email and Email Password text boxes.

Having Twitter automatically find your contacts involves entering your e-mail account password. Although Twitter has established itself as a trustworthy service, in general, be cautious about sites that ask you for your e-mail address and password.

Click the Continue arrow.

Twitter looks at your contact list from your e-mail account and gives you a list of all the people from your address book who are already on Twitter.

Select the check boxes for the people you want to follow.

When you follow people on Twitter, you see their updates on your Twitter Home screen. If you click the Select All check box, everyone is selected. If you uncheck the Select All check box, everyone is unselected, and you can go through your list of contacts, picking and choosing who to follow.

When you finish selecting people, click the Continue button.

If you didn’t select all the people in your address book, you’re asked whether you want to invite any of the people you didn’t select to join Twitter.

Repeat these steps for all your other networks, if you have them.

If you skip this step during the registration process, you can always search for people by first name, last name, or e-mail address by clicking the Find People link at the top of any Twitter page.