Template:Cite tweet/doc

A template for citing tweets posted on Twitter.

Usage

Copy a blank version to use. Almost all parameter names are supported only in lower case (some initialisms, such as |isbn= have upper-case aliases like |ISBN=, which are acceptable for use). Use the "|" (pipe) character between each parameter. Unused parameters may be deleted to avoid clutter in the edit window. Some samples on this documentation page may include the current date. If the date is not current, then the page.

Required parameters only, in horizontal format

{{Cite tweet |user= |number= |title=}}

Full parameter set in horizontal format

{{Cite tweet |author= (or |last= |first= ) |author-link= |user= |number= |date= |title= |script-title= |trans-title= |language= |retweet= |location= |access-date= |link= |url-status= |archive-url= |archive-date= |quote= |ref=}}

Note: When known, the author's real name should be specified in the |author= parameter (or |last= and |first=). If their real name is not known, then the tweet is probably not an acceptable usage of a self-published source.

Using {{Sfn}} and {{Harvid}}

To use this template with shortened footnotes (e.g. the {{Sfn}} template), add |ref= with {{Harvid}} in the parameter value, like this:

{{Cite tweet |ref={{harvid|Porck|2017}} |last=Porck |first=Thijs |user=thijsporck |number=889205416596471811 |date=23 July 2017 |title=Spotted in Marvel's Doctor Strange: Sutton Hoo Helmet replica! |access-date=5 December 2017}}

This reference would be cited as {{sfn|Porck|2017}}.

Optional |date= parameter

Unlike most citation templates, the |date= parameter is optional. This is because the date can be calculated directly from the Tweet's ID using Module:TwitterSnowflake (wrapped with Template:TwitterSnowflake).

If the |date= parameter is off by more than one day from what the calculated date is, the template will output an error. This can be fixed by removing or correcting the date parameter.

If the Tweet was posted before November 4, 2010, the date cannot be calculated from the ID — the template will output an error if no date is provided.

Examples

{{Cite tweet |user=Pigsonthewing |number=564068436633214977 |title=This is an example tweet. Hello, Wikipedians!}}

@Pigsonthewing (February 7, 2015). "This is an example tweet. Hello, Wikipedians!" (Tweet) – via Twitter.

{{Cite tweet |author=Andy Mabbett |user=Pigsonthewing |number=564068436633214977 |title=This is an example tweet. Hello, Wikipedians!}}

Andy Mabbett [@Pigsonthewing] (February 7, 2015). "This is an example tweet. Hello, Wikipedians!" (Tweet) – via Twitter.

{{Cite tweet |author=Andy Mabbett |user=Pigsonthewing |number=564068436633214977 |title=This is an example tweet. Hello, Wikipedians! |retweet=Wikimedia Foundation [Wikimedia]}}

Andy Mabbett [@Pigsonthewing] (February 7, 2015). "This is an example tweet. Hello, Wikipedians!" (Tweet). Retweeted by Wikimedia Foundation [Wikimedia] – via Twitter.

If the author has a Wikipedia article, use of |author-link= is recommended:
{{Cite tweet |author=Elon Musk |author-link=Elon Musk |user=elonmusk |number=743097337782763521 |title=Looks like thrust was low on 1 of 3 landing engines. High g landings v sensitive to all engines operating at max.}}

Elon Musk [@elonmusk] (June 15, 2016). "Looks like thrust was low on 1 of 3 landing engines. High g landings v sensitive to all engines operating at max" (Tweet) – via Twitter.

Note that if |last= is used, |author= is ignored:
{{Cite tweet |last=Mabbett |first=Andy |author=Redundant Author Name Ignored |user=Pigsonthewing |number=564068436633214977 |title=This is an example tweet. Hello, Wikipedians! |retweet=Wikimedia Foundation [Wikimedia]}}

Mabbett, Andy [@Pigsonthewing] (February 7, 2015). "This is an example tweet. Hello, Wikipedians!" (Tweet). Retweeted by Wikimedia Foundation [Wikimedia] – via Twitter.

This tweet was posted before November 4, 2010, so |date= is necessary:
{{Cite tweet |user=jack |number=20 |title=just setting up my twttr |date=Mar 21, 2006 }}

Jack Dorsey [@jack] (Mar 21, 2006). "just setting up my twttr" (Tweet) – via Twitter.

Error detection

• The parameters |user=, |number=, and |title= are required. If omitted or left blank, errors will be reported. For example:

  {{Cite tweet |title=I'm an incomplete citation!}}

  @. "I'm an incomplete citation!" (Tweet) – via Twitter.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) Missing or empty |user=; Missing or empty |number= (help)

• The tweet URL depends on |user= and |number=; if either or both are missing, the URL defaults to https://twitter.com/
• The tweet date depends on |number= for Tweets posted after November 4, 2010, if the given date parameter is off by more than a day from the calculated date, an error is displayed
• Templates are checked for |ref=harv, which is an error. The |ref= parameter must use {{Harvid}} in the value.
• The template also checks for parameters that are unsupported (e.g. misspellings of parameter names).
• Errors are tracked in Category:Cite tweet templates with errors

TemplateData

This is the TemplateData for this template used by TemplateWizard, VisualEditor and other tools. See a monthly parameter usage report for Template:Cite tweet in articles based on its TemplateData.

TemplateData for Cite tweet

A template for citing tweets posted on Twitter

Template parameters

Parameter		Description	Type	Status
number	number	Numerical ID of the tweet	Number	required
username	user	Twitter account name, without the @	String	required
tweet	title	Partial or entire content of the tweet, optionally including hashtags (#), at signs (@), and links. Note: double quote marks (") should be replaced with single quote marks (') because the entire title will display surrounded by double quotes.	String	required
author	author	Author's real name, if known. If not known, then the tweet is probably not an acceptable usage of a self-published source (see [[WP:SPS]])	Unknown	suggested
author's article	author-link authorlink	Title of existing Wikipedia article about the author	Unknown	optional
retweeted by	retweet	The reliable source who retweeted the tweet, if the original tweeter is not anyone particularly notable. May be wikilinked.	Unknown	optional
date	date	date of the tweet; do not wikilink; do not include time.	Unknown	optional
access date	access-date accessdate	The full date when the tweet was accessed; do not wikilink	Unknown	optional
language	language	The language in which the tweet is written, if not in English. Example fr	String	optional
location	location	The location from which a tweet was sent. Example London	String	optional
archive URL	archive-url archiveurl	The URL of an archived copy of a web page, if or in case the URL becomes unavailable; requires 'archive-date'	String	optional
archive date	archive-date archivedate	Date when the original URL was archived; do not wikilink	String	optional
URL status	url-status	If set to 'live', the title displays as the live link; if set to dead, the title displays as the archive link	String	optional
script tweet	script-title	For tweets in languages that do not use a Latin-based alphabet (Arabic, Chinese, Cyrillic, Greek, Hebrew, Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, etc). Prefix with two-character ISO639-1 language code followed by a colon, e.g. for Japanese use: ja:... Example ja:東京タワー	Unknown	optional
translated tweet	trans-title	An English language translation, if the tweet cited is in a foreign language; use of 'language' parameter is recommended	Unknown	optional
Link to Twitter article?	link	Set to "no" to not link to the Wikipedia article for Twitter. Useful for preventing overlinking when more than one tweet is cited.	Unknown	optional
Date format	df	Valid values: dmy, dmy-all, mdy, mdy-all, ymd, ymd-all	Unknown	optional
Quote	quote	Relevant text quoted from the source; displays last, enclosed in quotes; must include terminating punctuation	String	optional
Ref	ref	An anchor identifier; can be made the target of wikilinks to full references	String	optional

Redirects

1. {{Cite twitter}}

See also

• {{Tweet}}
• {{Cite Twitter profile}}
• WP:TWITTER